You Can't Say No to This
by LABM
Summary: Draco is a spy for the Order. He pretends he's a Death Eater, but in fact, he's not. What if Voldemort tells him to marry Hermione Granger? Will she say yes? It IS for the greater good anyway. Rated M for language and mature content in later chapters
1. Prologue

A/N: So… this is my first try at making a long story that is a DMHG fic. Not yet sure how long, but I'll try to update as soon as I can. Please review! I'd like to hear what you guys think. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter and all its characters.

* * *

It was a beautiful day at Hogwarts. It was a month before they finally finished their seven years of schooling at Hogwarts. In one month, they would all be graduating, Hermione felt both happy and sad that they were almost done. She would miss the school and the professors and the classes, but it was finally time for her to go out into the real Wizarding World and put the things she learned into action. Besides, she was sure that they would be coming back quite frequently, what with the Order meetings and all.

They officially became part of the Order of the Phoenix during their midyear, and they have been training and practicing their defensive skills ever since. Hermione was assigned to do research work on the Horcruxes, while Ron and Harry were trained to fight.

Together with Draco Malfoy.

Yes, Draco Malfoy was part of the Order. Lucius Malfoy forced Draco to take the Dark Mark despite the protests of Narcissa. Narcissa did not believe and support of the Dark Lord, and did not want Draco to end up like his father. Draco and his mother learned that Snape was a spy for the Order and Snape convinced Draco to join the Light.

Dumbledore took them both in and the other members of the Orders accepted them, especially Tonks, being Draco's cousin. The only ones who were still doubtful of Draco's actions were Harry, Ron and Hermione. They did not understand how Dumbledore could be so forgiving; wondering if he forgot all those things Draco had done to them. They tried for so many times to catch him red handed, but soon learned that Draco and Narcissa not only drank Veritaserum during the interrogation of Dumbledore, but also took an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore.

Their progress on finding the Horcruxes went slowly. Yes, they knew what they were, but they did not know where they were. So far, they have found four: the diary-which was already destroyed by Harry on their second year-, the ring, the locket, and Ravenclaw's Diadem. Harry found it in the Room of Requirement and destroyed it with the sword of Gryffindor.

Hermione knew the other two: Hufflepuff's cup and Voldemort's snake, but could not figure out how to find the cup and kill Nangini, not to mention still not knowing the last Horcrux. She was usually seen pouring over books in the library, looking for possible things that were valuable to Voldemort or finding out the recent sightings of the cup.

Harry, Ron, Draco and the rest of the Aurors, on the other hand, started training for defense, since they all knew that Voldemort would not go down without a fight. They trained advanced defensive spells and even studied Dark spells that they thought would be used by the Death Eaters.

Narcissa and Draco gave valuable information about the recent actions of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Draco showed them memories of Voldemort through the pensieve and gave them their current location. He also had to pretend to be a follower of Voldemort, which, I might add, was a very hard and dangerous job. He had to pretend that he actually wanted to be part of the Dark Lord's army and had to pretend that he too killed muggles and muggle-borns.

The four students were civil around each other, no longer hating each other but at the same time still not liking each other as well. Draco did not taunt and tease them anymore, and they eventually learned how to co-exist with each other without one of them wanting to kill the other.

Everything went smoothly for the rest of the year. Hermione was especially happy today because she found a lead on where Hufflepuff's cup was recently seen. She was happily eating her dinner, thinking about Dumbledore's reaction when he would learn about her news. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when Harry went over to her.

"Hermione, Dumbledore wants us in his office. Right now." Harry said, slightly out of breath from running all the way to her. Hermione happily got up and dusted her robes. "Oh good," she said, as they started heading towards Dumbledore's office. "I have great news for him." Harry nodded absently and knocked as they reached the Headmaster's office.

"Come in."

They were greeted by Ron, Dumbledore, and Draco, who Hermione thought looked quite pale. Well, paler then the usual. "Good evening, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore greeted, "I apologize for the short notice."

"Oh that's alright, Headmaster, I was planning to see you. I have a lead on the recent sighting of the cup."

"Oh really? And where is that, if I may ask?"

"It was last found in Knockturn Alley, being traded by a couple of merchants coming from Romania. I'm afraid that's all I have. I will look in to it further, though. I thought I just wanted to let you know."

"Thank you Ms. Granger. That information is valuable indeed. However, that is not the reason I called all of you here tonight. I'm afraid Mr. Malfoy has some news for us." They all looked at Draco, who looked like he was going to vomit anytime soon.

"I think it would be easier if you all see this, instead of me telling it to you myself." And with that, Draco poured the vial of his memory into the pensieve and looked at Dumbledore.

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy. You may go in first, and we will follow."


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

Draco, followed by Dumbledore and the three others plunged into the pensieve.

_The scene showed Draco kneeling in front of Voldemort._

"_You called for me, Master?" Draco asked._

"_Yes, young Malfoy. I have a very important mission for you."_

"_And what is that, Master?" Draco asked, with a hint of fear in his voice. They all knew that what Voldemort asked them to do would be dangerous and could possibly lead to their death._

"_I want you to marry the mudblood Granger."_

_Draco looked up in surprise._

"_But Master-"_

"_No buts, young Malfoy," He interrupted. "You are to do as I say to show your complete devotion to me. You shall marry her; get her to trust you so that you can get information on their stupid Order. You will be my spy, just like Severus. And when we finally win, you may kill her and marry any pureblood you choose."_

_Draco bowed his head, a feeling of dread growing in his gut. What on Earth would he tell Dumbledore?_

"_And don't think you can fool me, Malfoy. I _will _know if the marriage is legitimate. Remember, Draco Malfoy, you will play a very important role in our plan to defeat the other side. You must succeed. If not, our failure will be at your hands, and you will pay."_

"_Yes, Master."_

Draco surfaced from the pensieve and sat heavily on a chair.

Dumbledore was in deep thought and Harry and Ron stood frozen with their mouths agape. Hermione stared at Draco. Draco stared back.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Hermione finally spoke.

"I'll do it."

Draco, Harry, and Ron looked at her disbelievingly.

"What?" they all said in unison.

"You heard me, I'll do it."

"Very well, Ms. Granger. We will talk about this tomorrow."

"But professor Dumbledore, there must be a way out of this!" Shouted Ron.

"Like what, Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore asked him.

Ron stood there, speechless. With a resigned sigh, he gave in. Harry stood beside him, looking defeated. There really wasn't anything they could do. Hermione looked defiant, as if she was so sure of what she was doing. But if they looked closer, they would see a hint of fear in her eyes.

Draco still stared at her disbelievingly. "Granger, are you out of your mind?"

"What do you propose, Malfoy? The only thing you can do is get married, or die. What would you pick?"

"Die, actually."

Hermione threw a pillow at his direction. "You heartless bastard."

"I'm joking, I'm joking."

"It isn't the time for jokes, Malfoy!"

"Okay, okay." He said, raising his arms in defense. "But I'm not saying I like this. Quite the opposite, actually." He said.

"This is the first time I'm going to have to agree with you."

Ron looked at them. "Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger? Agreeing with each other? Great start for a couple like you." He said, laughing.

"Shut up, Ron."

"Shut up, Weasley." They said in unison. Ron regarded them with raised eyebrows. "Progress." Harry laughed along with him.

"One more, Weasley, and I'll-"

"And you'll what, Malfoy?" Ron asked. "Marry me?"

"Ronald, stop it." Hermione said. "This is serious. I'm going to married to _Malfoy_, for Merlin's sake."

"_I'm _going to be married to _Granger._" Draco said.

"I'm going to be a _Malfoy_!" Hermione suddenly said. She was hit with a realization that yes, she was going to be married at the young age of 18. "I'm going to get married." She said, softly, and rushed out of the room.

Draco looked at Dumbledore.

"Professor, there simply _must_ be a way to get out of this."

"What can we do, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I don't know, fake it?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "You heard what Voldemort said, Mr. Malfoy. He will know. Magical bonding is very powerful magic, and can easily be detected."

"I can't get married to Granger." Draco said, leaning back and covering his face.

"Why not, Malfoy? Get over your pure blood bull shit and marry her. It's for the greater good." Harry interjected. Draco uncovered his face and looked at Harry.

"I can't marry her because when pure bloods get married, the bond is permanent. They cannot be separated nor divorced. The bond is so strong that it will only break when one dies. It's literally 'till death do us part.' Tell me, Potter, would you want Granger to end up with someone like me for the rest of her life?"

Harry visibly paled.

"Besides, I don't know if Granger even wants to marry me anymore. Did you see her when she left?"

"Hermione would still do it. She'll do anything for the greater good." Ron said.

Draco shook his head. "She's way too selfless for her own good."

"Agree with you there, mate." Ron said.

"Aye." Harry agreed.

Dumbledore regarded them with a fond expression. It felt good to see these three boys, who used to be enemies before, finally be friends. Well, maybe not yet friends, but he could see that they were getting there.

"Okay, boys, it's already late at night. We will all talk about this tomorrow morning and make the final plans. For now, go to bed, goodnight."

The three boys murmured their goodbyes, but were stopped by Dumbledore.

"And please make sure that Ms. Granger is safe in her dorms."

"Yes, headmaster." They all said, and left the office.

Outside, Harry and Ron faced Draco.

"Look, Malfoy, I know that this may be hard for you, with the task as a spy and all, I mean, your role is dangerous, and we don't want to make this hard for you with our enmity and all," Harry said, him and Ron exchanging glances. "So I suggest we could drop our hatred for each other and actually try to get along." Ron nodded, showing Draco that he too wanted to drop their feud.

Draco nodded, and extended his hand. Harry and Ron took turns to shake it, and both smiled. "Glad we could get this sorted out. I apologize, by the way, for acting the way I did before. You must understand, I was taught differently by my father." Draco said, and both boys nodded. They understood where he came from, and they all decided to grow up and leave the past behind them. They then said goodnight and went their separate ways. Harry and Ron headed up to the Gryffindor tower, while Draco headed up to the Astronomy tower to think. Little did he know that he wasn't the only one up there. When he finally reached the tower, he saw someone else. Upon moving closer, he finally realized who it was.

"Granger."

* * *

A/N: So.. What do you guys think?


	3. Chapter Two

A/N: Thank you to all who favored and reviewed!

I don't own Harry Potter

* * *

Hermione looked up. "Malfoy. How did you know I was here?" She asked.

"I didn't. I came up here to think."

She nodded. "The stars help you think at night. It's so peaceful and it puts you to a contemplative mood." Draco nodded absently, looking up at the stars too.

Hermione looked sideways at him, his hair a bit ruffled, his tired looking eyes, his tall frame leaning on the railing beside her. "What happened there after I left?" She asked softly.

He sighed. "Nothing, really. I asked if we could fake it or something, but Dumbledore reminded me that Voldemort would know if the wedding's legitimate of not."

Hermione sighed too. "There really is not way out of this, is there?"

Draco shook his head. "I'm sorry you had to be pulled into this, Granger."

"You couldn't have done anything." She said, shrugging.

"Granger, I will really find a way to get us out if this."

"You don't need to, Malfoy. I've already accepted it. If this will help bring Voldemort down, then I'll do it."

Draco sighed again and ruffled his hair, causing it to stick up in different directions. "That's not it, Granger. I'm a pureblood. When purebloods get married, they can never get separated from their partners _until they die._ So even if Voldemort's defeated and we win, you will still be my…_wife_," he said, saying the last word as if it was a foreign word, "and I will still be your _husband_ until one of us dies."

Hermione looked blankly at him, showing no emotions.

Finally, she spoke.

"_I'm _willing to do it. The question is, are _you_?" She asked. "Are _you_ willing to let go of our past and all you've been taught to think in order to save the Light?"

"I don't have a choice." Draco replied. Hermione snorted and pushed him playfully. "Of course you do. You can jump anytime." Draco laughed.

"Yeah, well, we have _that_, but I'd rather marry you for the greater good than jump off this tower." Hermione nodded. "There we have it then."

"We have a meeting with Dumbledore first thing in the morning tomorrow. I'm heading out."

"Yeah, me too, I guess. Harry and Ron are probably looking for me."

Draco nodded. "Night, Granger."

Hermione smiled. "Goodnight Malfoy." And with that, they both headed back to their respective dorms.

* * *

The next day, they all met up in Dumbledore's office together with the other Order members.

"Everybody, we have news." Dumbledore started. Everybody stopped talking to listen to the Headmaster.

"Mr. Malfoy was summoned by Voldemort last night." At this, Narcissa gasped. "The reason why he was called was because Voldemort had given him a very important task." Dumbledore looked at Draco, silently asking for permission to speak about his task. Draco nodded and Dumbledore continued. "Voldemort wants Mr. Malfoy to marry Ms. Granger so that he could get information on the Order." Narcissa had both hands to her mouth.

"But-is there a way out of this, Headmaster?"

"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Malfoy. Voldemort told Draco that he would know if the wedding is legitimate."

Narcissa looked horrified and looked at Draco. "It's okay, mother. Granger and I have accepted it. It is my task to do it."

"But you're a pureblood. The wedding-"

"Yes, mother. We know. However, we are still willing to get married." Narcissa nodded slowly. "Besides," Draco continued, "I've been thinking last night. I could tell the Dark Lord that I need time to lure Granger into liking me and gaining her trust. I could tell him it would take a few months, therefore giving us time to figure out how to defeat him and his Death Eaters and possibly do so before Granger and I get married. In that way, we wouldn't get married and we would defeat Voldemort." Draco finished. This earned approving nods from the others. Hermione was looking at him as if he sprouted a second head. _Why hadn't she thought about that?_

"That is a good thought, Mr. Malfoy. This means that we need to work and train extra hard. Ms. Granger found a lead on the Hufflepuff Cup yesterday. She will be researching further on this information." Hermione nodded.

Mad-Eye Moody spoke up. "We need to find and destroy the rest of the Horcruxes as soon as we can. We all know that Voldemort is not a patient man."

"Well what about the students, Albus?" McGonagall asked. "They still have their NEWTs and their lessons. Surely they can't miss it."

Dumbledore was deep in thought, but Hermione spoke up. "We could still do it, Professor." The three other boys nodded in affirmative. McGonagall nodded. "I will inform the other teachers so that they won't give too much homework."

"Now that that is settled, are there other things we need to talk about?" Dumbledore asked. When there were no more questions raised, he continued. "Very well, you will be noted when there will be another meeting. Mr. Malfoy, I'm sorry to say but you must speak with Voldemort soon. Severus will accompany you and you will continue practicing your Legilimency. The rest of you, continue training and watch your backs. Always be safe and never trust anyone aside from ourselves." Everyone nodded and left the office.

Outside, Narcissa approached Draco.

"Draco, are you sure about this? Marrying Hermione Granger? You're only eighteen years old!"

"What else can I do, mother? I can't just ignore what Voldemort asked me to do."

Narcissa nodded, defeated. "Have you seen your father when you met with the Dark Lord?"

"No, mother." Draco shook his head.

"Do you think he senses something?" Narcissa asked. As far as they knew, Lucius still thought that they were on the Dark Side.

"No, mother. He's too busy following the Dark Lord's orders and acting as his lap dog." Draco spat, bitter.

"Draco, don't let your anger on your father distract you from the things you have to do. Remember, you must not be clouded by anger; it will only lead you to ignorance and stupidity. Always think before you act." Narcissa reminded.

Draco nodded. "Yes, Mother. Are you going back to the Manor?" he asked, his voice softer and filled with concern.

Narcissa gave a sad smile. "I have to; your father might get suspicious why I'm gone."

Draco sighed. "I really don't want you to be there, mother. You'll be in danger."

Narcissa reached up to brush some strands of hair from Draco's face. Draco closed his eyes at the motherly gesture. "I have to, son."

Draco nodded. "Promise me you'll be careful. Please?"

This time, Narcissa gave him a full smile. "I will, love. You take care too. Whenever the Dark Lord summons you, watch your emotions." Narcissa's smile faded. "Practice your Legilimency with Severus. Be safe."

Draco nodded. "Goodbye, mother. You have to go back and I have to attend my classes." He said reluctantly. Narcissa nodded and hugged her son. Draco gave her a kiss on the cheek and left. She then reentered the Headmaster's office to Floo back to the Manor.

For the next week, they worked extra hard. Draco and Harry continued their sessions in Legilimency with Snape, Ron was being trained with the other Aurors, and Hermione and Dumbledore were searching for the other Horcruxes. Aside from these, they also had to balance their studies and lessons, preparing for their NEWT exams.

At the end of the week, at the Headmaster's office, Draco and Snape were preparing to meet with the Dark Lord. Dumbledore briefed them and told them what false information to spill to Voldemort.

Snape looked at his watch. "It is already time."

Draco and Dumbledore nodded. "Good luck to the both of you, be safe." Dumbledore said.

And with that, Draco and Snape disappeared with a pop.

The anti-apparition wards were put down for the night.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think


	4. Chapter Three

A/N: Again, thank you to all those who favored and reviewed and took time to read this! I can never be more grateful!

I don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

Draco and Snape arrived at the forest where Voldemort told them to meet him.

"Severus, Malfoy. What do you want to speak to me about? I have more pressing matters on my hands that I need to see through. " Voldemort asked coldly.

They both kneeled with their heads bowed. "My Master," Snape started, "Mr. Malfoy simply has something to say about his task."

"Very well, speak up, young Malfoy."

"Master, I am requesting for some time for me to complete my task." Voldemort looked at him. "Time?"

"Yes, master. I need time to get Granger to trust me, to fall in love with me so that your plan will go smoothly."

"You want time? Malfoy, I am quite disappointed with you. I have heard from your father that you are quite the catch in your school. All the girls would want to be with you. Don't you have charm? Don't all the girls fall at your feet and swoon at your very presence?"

"They do, my Lord," Draco continued, "but Granger is not like the rest, she is proving to be difficult to charm. We don't exactly have a friendly past, you see."

Voldemort thought deeply. "I admit you have a point. Very well, you have until the end of your school year. Until the end of your school year, you may befriend her and gain her trust and her heart. The week after your schooling ends, however, you must marry her, or there will be punishment." Draco swallowed hard. _That's two months. _ "Remember, Draco Malfoy, if we do not have the Order information, then we will not win. Are we clear?" Voldemort asked. Draco nodded. "Yes, master. I will not fail you."

"You better not. Severus, make sure that the boy is doing what he must. Continue spying for the Order. What information do you have for me?"

Draco let Snape speak. He was deep in thought. Were two months enough for them to find the Horcruxes and defeat Voldemort?

"That is valuable information." Voldemort said, once Snape was finished telling him the false information on the Order. This interrupted Draco's thoughts and forced him to come back to the present. "I am pleased with what you have given me. Now go back there and fulfill your task."

And with that, he disappeared.

Draco sank to the ground. "Two months aren't enough."

"I know, Draco, but Voldemort is not a patient man. We must do what we can in two months; although I highly doubt that in two months we can find and destroy the rest of the Horcruxes, not to mention strengthening our army against the Dark." Draco nodded absently. "We better get going and tell the Headmaster." Snape said, and with a crack, they both apparated back to the Headmaster's office.

* * *

Dumbledore was waiting for them. He stood up when they reappeared and Snape told him of the confrontation.

"Two months? That is too soon, but we shall do everything that we can in that span of time."

"So Sir," Draco started, "it is possible that Granger and I will still get married?"

"I'm afraid we have to think about all the possibilities, Mr. Malfoy. We must be prepared."

Draco nodded, with a defeated look on his face.

"If that is all, Mr. Malfoy, you may go back to your room. I must speak with Professor Snape."

Draco nodded and headed out of the office. Going down from the stairs leading to the headmaster's office, he bumped into Hermione, causing both of them to fall. Hermione landed on top of Draco. She hastily stood up and dusted off her robes as Draco groaned. "Merlin, Granger. I know you don't like me, all you have to do is tell me. No need to kill me."

"That was an accident, Malfoy. I don't plan to kill you." Hermione said as she extended a hand to help him up. He took her hand and stood up, dusting dirt off his robes.

"So how did the meeting with Voldemort go?" She asked.

He took a deep breath, which was not a good sign for Hermione. "He only gave us two months."

"Two months?" Hermione nearly screamed.

"Merlin, Granger, you're going to burst my eardrums. Yes, he only gave me two months to 'court' you."

"But that's too soon."

"I know, Granger. I guess your dream of marrying me will come true after all." He said teasingly.

"My dream is _not _marrying you!" she said, hitting him roughly at the shoulder.

"I was kidding, woman! Merlin, you hit hard." He said, rubbing the spot where she hit him.

Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Why were you going to Dumbledore's office?" Draco inquired.

"Oh yeah!" Hermione exclaimed, hitting her forehead with her palm. "It's your fault, Malfoy, running into me, therefore letting me forget the news I'm telling Dumbledore."

Draco decided to ignore her comment about it being his fault. "What news?"

"I know where Hufflepuff's cup is located."

"Really?" Draco asked, intrigued. "Where?"

"The Lestranges' vault."

Draco looked at her with his mouth agape.

"Good luck getting that one. I heard they've put protective charms around that vault."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course they've put protective charms around the vault. The vault probably has thousands and thousands worth of galleons and things!"

Draco looked at her annoyed. "I knew that, you're forgetting that my aunt is a Lestrange."

"We have to figure out how to get in there."

"Well, I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me, captain obvious." He said, with a roll of his eyes.

"Malfoy, now is not the time for your sarcasm. You do know that it's suicide if you break into Gringotts."

"I know that, Merlin, Granger, you forgot who you are talking to."

"Oh yes, I forgot I was talking to a four year old, silly me. Well, Gringotts is a bank for-"

"Granger, that's not funny." Draco said, annoyed at her.

"I know." She said with a fake smile. "I better get going. I have more things to do than talk to you."

Draco raised his eyebrow. "Look who's talking."

Hermione was about to retort when Snape exited the office.

"Looks like I can talk to professor Dumbledore now. See you around, Malfoy."

"Yeah, see you." Draco replied as Hermione walked up the stairs.

* * *

Hermione gave a faint knock on Dumbledore's door. She heard him say 'come in' and entered.

"Good evening Ms. Granger, to what do I owe this pleasure?" the Headmaster asked.

"Professor Dumbledore, I am pleased to say that I now have knowledge on where we can find Hufflepuff's cup." Hermione said happily. She was pleased when Dumbledore smiled and the twinkle in his eye returned.

"Is that so, Ms. Granger? Where can we find it, if I may ask?"

"There's the bad news, though." Hermione said, her smile fading. "It is in the Lestranges' vault."

Dumbledore did not look surprised. "I had a feeling about that. Voldemort trusts only a few of his followers, and I had a feeling that it was with one of his close followers. He has, anyway, trusted Lucius Malfoy with Tom Riddle's diary back when you were in your second year."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "But Professor Dumbledore, how are we going to get it?"

"We shall have another meeting tomorrow about this new information. Thank you, Ms. Granger, for your time. I am proud to say that I have made the right choice in choosing you to take over the search for the Horcruxes." Hermione blushed and smiled. "Thank you, Headmaster, goodnight."

And with that, she headed out of the office with a big smile on her face.

* * *

The next day, they had another meeting.

"We now know where the next Horcrux is. The cup is in the Lestranges' vault." At this, many of the Order members gasped. "How are we going to get it?" one of them asked.

"Mad-Eye Moody and the rest of the Aurors are still going to figure it out."

"I have a plan." Harry suddenly spoke up. Dumbledore made a gesture for him to continue.

"We break in."

"But that's impossible! No one has _ever_ broken into Gringotts." Someone spoke up.

"It's not impossible. Someone already broke into a vault when we were in our first year, but it was empty."

"It's going to be more difficult, obviously, since the vault we're going to break into is most definitely not empty."

"Not if we don't have inside help."

"What do you mean?"

"We could enter if anyone from the inside could bring us in." Harry said.

"Mr. Potter, that is a very difficult task. Who are you going to ask? The goblins?"

"I-don't know yet."

"Goblins are untrustworthy creatures, Harry." Bill spoke up. "They have been holding a grudge against wizards or, as they call it, 'wand-carriers' for a really long time."

"We'll still have to plan things out." Harry replied. "But I'm pretty sure that's all we can do."

"Can't we ask the Malfoys to get it? Narcissa _is_ Bellatrix's sister anyway. And Draco is a Death Eater." Ron suggested.

Draco and Narcissa both regarded him with cold expressions. "Or not." Ron said, shrinking after seeing their faces.

"If we get it ourselves, mister Weasley, Bellatrix and the Dark Lord will be suspicious. Unless it has something to do with my son getting Ms. Granger sooner, Voldemort and the Lestranges will not let us in even though we are family. We Slytherins do not trust anyone." Narcissa said coldly.

"Voldemort trusted Lucius Malfoy and the Lestranges enough to let them keep important things such as those Horcruxes."  
"Yeah, well we all know Voldemort is a crazy old bat." Draco replied. At this, a few of the members laughed.

"Alright, alright, everybody settle down." Dumbledore said, at once, there was silence in the room.

"We all must think how we are going to be able to get the Cup, but we must not forget that we still need to search for the one Horcrux. More raids and murders are also happening, so Mad-Eye Moody and his Aurors are going to be busy tracking down the rest of the Death Eaters. We must watch our backs at all times because we cannot afford to lose Aurors. We must catch Death Eaters at least little by little so that by the time the battle comes, their number will not be as great." Dumbledore turned to Harry and the three others. "Harry, your suggestion will be successful if it is well-thought about and well-planned. During your free time off from school work, I suggest the four of you to plan on how to break into the vault in the quietest way possible. I'm sure that once Voldemort learns about the break-in, he will finally learn what we are doing. Miss Granger and I are very close to finding out the last Horcrux, and remember, we must do this as fast as we can. If we can defeat Voldemort in two months, then Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger need not get married."

Everyone nodded and headed out.

* * *

A/N: Again, please tell me what you guys think! Thank you!


	5. Chapter Four

A/N: Please know that I'm honest and serious and sincere when I say thank you! I'm serious, Thank you so much for reviewing and favoring and taking time to read this! Hope this chapter makes you happy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would already have those Charles & Keith heels I want so much!

* * *

The night after the meeting, Hermione was found in the library, studying for the NEWTs. She was having a hard time balancing her school work and researching for the Horcruxes. Dumbledore gave her access to all the books about Horcruxes and let her use the pensieve every now and then, but she didn't know what to prioritize anymore. She had to find out the last Horcrux as soon as possible, but she also needed to study for their last exams. Even though there were fewer home works and projects, she still had to practice spells and memorize the events that happened during the Goblin wars and whatnot. Plus, she also had to do her Head Girl duties, although that wasn't very heavy because she had her fellow Head Boy and the rest of the prefects to help her.

Her studying was interrupted, however, when someone pulled the chair beside her and sat down. She looked up and rolled her eyes.

"Malfoy, what a lovely surprise." She said, sarcasm dripping from her lips.

"Granger." He acknowledged her with a nod. "Catching up with your studies?"

"Yes, although I don't know why that would be any of your business. What are you doing here, Malfoy? People are staring."

Draco ignored the stares and propped his feet on the table and twined his fingers behind his head. "Why, can't I just catch up with my _fiancée_?" he said the last word in a whisper, leaning closer to her as he did so.

She glared at him. "Shut up, Malfoy. What if someone hears you?"

"No one will, Granger. Gosh, you're always so paranoid." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you want, Malfoy, and why are you disturbing me? Can't you go study yourself? Or at least _help_ in finding a way to get the Horcruxes."

"Shh, Granger, people can hear you!" Draco said as he lifted a finger to his lips. Hermione blushed and looked around. Thankfully, it looked like no one heard her.

"Malfoy, just answer the bloody question."

"Which was?"

"_What_ are you doing here?"

"Say, since we're practically going to get married, does that mean that I can't date anyone? Or better yet, _kiss_ anyone anymore?" Draco asked, ignoring the question.

"Malfoy, keep your voice down!" Hermione said in a loud whisper. People were starting to give them looks for being so noisy in the library.

"Answer the question." He replied, also whispering loudly.

"Merlin, I don't know! It's up to you whether you want to date anyone. Why would I care?"

"Because you're my _future wife_." He said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We aren't certain yet."

Draco regarded her with a serious expression. "Seriously, you think we'll be ready in two months? I don't think so."

Hermione looked away. "Honestly, I don't think we will as well. We don't even know how we're going to steal the cup form the vault."

Draco nodded, both falling into comfortable silence. Hermione broke it.

"Malfoy, I need to get back to studying. Unless you have something important to say to me, I suggest you leave." Draco sighed. "Fine, Granger. You're no fun." Hermione gave him a bewildered look.

"Of course I'm-"

"I don't need to hear it." He interrupted with a wave of his hand. "Potter and Weasley are calling for you."

"Why are they calling for me?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "How on Earth should I know? It's bad enough that they sent _me_ to pick _you_ up when I could be studying or thinking about Quidditch techniques and strategies."

Hermione started packing her things and Draco stood up.

"Where are they?" she asked, as they headed out of the library.

"They told me to tell you that they'll be meeting you at the Great Hall for dinner."

Hermione nodded and they both headed for the Great Hall.

Arriving there, Hermione walked over the Gryffindor table while Draco went to the Slytherin table.

"Hey, Hermione!" Ron said, scooting over to give her space to sit.

"Hey Harry, hey Ron. What do you want to talk to me about? Malfoy told me you needed me?"

"Yeah, since he was walking up, we told him to call you. Look, we need to plan for the break-in soon."

Hermione groaned. "Now? I still need to study."

"No, not now, but soon. Saturday is in two days, wake up really early and head down here so that we could meet up and plan with Malfoy without people there to see or overhear us." Harry replied.

"Okay, is that all?"

Harry shook his head. "Dumbledore arranged a meeting tonight."

Hermione sat up straighter. "Oh, you're receiving your lessons tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Well, tell me how it goes."

Harry nodded and stood up. "I better get going. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

Harry said goodbye and left.

"I'll get going too, Hermione." Ron said as he stood up. "And please tell Malfoy, your _future husband, _about the plan too_._" And he left with a laugh, leaving Hermione glaring at his back.

_Honestly, even though Malfoy and I are _most probably_ going to get married, it doesn't mean I have to do it! And look! Ron just passed him and he didn't even tell him instead! And what if someone overheard him?_

Fuming, she swallowed the rest of the sandwich she was eating and headed out. Spotting Draco near the entrance, she grabbed his sleeve and entered the nearest room she could find.

"Merlin, Granger, if you wanted a snog, all you had to do was ask. I _do_ have a pair of eyes and legs, you know." Draco said once Hermione shut the door behind her.

"Shut up, Malfoy and stop being an egotistical git." She started, glaring at him. He regarded her with raised eyebrows. "Looks like someone's in a bad mood. Did you eat anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, I did not eat anything ordinary." She ground out between clenched teeth. "Harry and Ron want to meet us Saturday morning in the Great Hall. We have to plan the break in."

"Okay, what time?"

"Early in the morning."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Can you please specify? Because I don't see an 'early in the morning' at my watch." And he made a show of looking at his watch.

"Early enough for us to have the hall alone without others overhearing us or eavesdropping on our conversation."

"Has it ever come to your mind that we could go somewhere other than the Great Hall? Because we never know when a student will get up."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Where?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Granger. I thought you were the smartest witch in our year? Somewhere like the _Room of Requirement_, maybe? Does that ring a bell?" He asked.

Hermione stared at him. "I wasn't the one who thought about the Great Hall, Harry did." She said, fishing for an excuse.

"You couldn't have simply suggested it?"

She gave a frustrated sigh. "You are so-ugh! I had many things in my mind, Malfoy. I'll talk to Harry and Ron later or something. Then I'll tell you where we'll meet."

"No need to talk to them. Room of Requirement, 6:30 am. Saturday."

Hermione gave a tired nod. "Fine, fine. I'll tell Harry and Ron later. Or tomorrow. When I have time."

Draco looked closer at her, there were bags under her eyes and she looked like she needed sleep.

"Granger, I suggest you sleep tonight."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Why, Malfoy? You care for me?"

Draco tried to look indifferent. "No, just don't want you falling asleep during the meetings. Plus, you still need to search for the other Horcrux. _And_ you have to study for your NEWTs."

"Oh, please don't remind me."

Draco shrugged. "Whatever you say, Granger. Now I have to go, much as I'm sure you want me to stay," this earned a shove from Hermione. "so I'll get out now then after five minutes you leave. That way no one will be suspicious as to why we left the same room together without scars on our bodies. Or love bites." He grinned evilly. Hermione's eyes widened. "Malfoy, you perverted git! Now go away, or I'll leave before you do."

Draco was still grinning when he started backing out to the door. "Bye, love!" He whispered before disappearing. Hermione wanted to throw a book at him. _The git._

Hermione hardly got to talk to Harry and Ron the next day. She only got to tell them the change of place and the rest of the day became a blur. They weren't able to talk much because they had to focus on their classes and do the extra work for the night. Saturday morning, however, they were able to wake up early and head to the Room of Requirement while everyone else was still asleep. Getting there, they saw that Draco was already waiting by the wall. Seeing them, he walked three times by the wall and, to no one's surprise, a door appeared. They didn't take time to stand around, so they entered at once, happy that no one saw them.

"So, Harry. We're all here." Hermione started.

"Yeah, well, good news or bad news?" Harry asked.

"Good news." Draco replied.

"Okay, well, we now know what the last Horcrux is."

Hermione's eyes grew and a big smile lit up her face. "Really? You finally know it? I'm so happy! What is it?"

"Merope Gaunt's wand."

"Wand? Isn't she a squib?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Yes, she was, but her father bought her one anyway, hoping that with one, her magical powers would surface. Too bad it didn't though, but I saw it in Dumbledore's pensieve. She still treated it like it was precious. She would wave it around even though it did not do any magic."

"I have seen almost every memory of Dumbledore's that has some sort of relation to the Horcruxes. Why haven't I seen it before?"

"Dumbledore has also been doing his share of work. He has been out these past days because he was searching for possible people and things related to the Horcruxes and Voldemort. He stumbled upon this."

"How do you know that Merope Gaunt's wand _is_ the Horcrux?" Ron asked.

"Because in another memory, Dumbledore and I saw that Voldemort was interested in his mother's wand."

"Do you know where it is, then?"

Harry nodded and the other three visibly relaxed. "Dumbledore destroyed it already."

"Well that's good, Harry!" Hermione said. "Two to go, then."

"Yeah, the bad news, though." And at this, the three others looked at him warily.

"I've talked to Dumbledore about breaking into Gringotts. We really need inside help, and the only inside help we have are the Goblins. We can't even ask Bill or other wizards because the Goblins are the only ones allowed to enter the vaults other than the vault owners themselves."

"And that's bad news because…?" Ron asked.

"The Goblins, like what Bill said, are really untrustworthy. The only chances they're going to help you is either they've got a grudge against the rest of the Goblins and they want to rebel against them, or we trade something extremely valuable in exchange for their service."

"That is bad news."

"Like what kind of valuable stuff? Money? Jewels?"

"Stuff that the four founders own. The cup, the diadem, the sword, and the-" Harry stopped, thinking. "What _does_ Slytherin own?" He asked, facing Draco. Draco shrugged. "I don't know, the chamber?"

"Anyway, why can't we give it to them, Harry?"

"Because the two are Horcruxes and we can't give Gryffindor's sword because that's what we'll use to destroy the Horcruxes."

"That's not the _only_ thing." Ron quipped. The three looked at him. "The Basilisk fang. As far as I know, the Basilisk is still in the chamber of secrets, unless it magically vanished." Hermione looked at Ron with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "Wow, Ron, I can't believe you thought about that."

Ron turned red. "Yeah, well, I remembered when Draco mentioned it."

Harry shuddered. "You're right, Ron, but I don't think I don't want to go back there."

"Well you have to, Potter, because without the fang and the sword, we can't destroy the Horcruxes." Draco said, rather bored.

"We could use fiendfyre, I read that also destroys Horcruxes."

"Fiendfyre is Dark Magic, although I guess we could use it, but we won't have time to burn Nangini. Fiendfyre has a mind of its own, and we won't have the time to control it."

Ron and Harry nodded. Hermione glared at him, he smirked back.

"Okay, so we're going to have to get a Goblin, offer the sword in exchange for entry into the Lestranges' vault, get the fang, and destroy the cup and the snake." Harry summarized.

"Yeah, that's basically it." Draco said.

Harry nodded, and Ron spoke up. "How are we going to get a Goblin?"

* * *

A/N: Ta-da! I'm not really sure if Merope is a squib, but in this story, I made her one. What do you think? Please review! thanks!


	6. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all its characters

* * *

Draco and Hermione looked at Harry.

Harry was thoughtful for a moment. "We could ask Bill if he has any goblin friends whom he thinks could help us." Harry suggested. The three others nodded their heads.

"So, is that it then?" Draco asked. Harry nodded. "We'll have another meeting same time and place next Saturday."

"I can't." Draco spoke up. "It's our game against Ravenclaw on Saturday."

Harry replied. "In the afternoon, then. 3:00 pm. Everyone will be outside enjoying the sun so we won't be seen. I'll probably talk to Bill and Dumbledore sometime this week." The three nodded and they all headed out of the Room of Requirement.

* * *

Draco headed out to the Quidditch pitch for the Slytherin practice. They had a game against Ravenclaw and they had to win. If they did, they would be fighting against whoever won in the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor game for the House cup. As Quidditch captain, he had to bring his team to the top, and that meant rigorous training.

Arriving at the pitch, he saw that the rest of his team mates were already there.

"Okay, team. We all know the Ravenclaw game is coming up next Saturday. We only have today and next Thursday to continue training. Remember, Ravenclaw must not be underestimated, so we shouldn't be taking it easy. Now go get your brooms, the training session today will be extremely long and rigorous. Treat it as if it's the game itself, and I won't let you rest until I'm satisfied. I don't want to hear any complaining, and if I don't see you doing your best, I'll make you stay on your brooms until the end of the day. I'm not joking." And with that, his team grabbed their brooms and got ready for their training.

The training, as promised, was long and tiring. There were only a few minutes in between for water breaks, not to mention the intense heat of the sun burning their skins. Draco pushed them until they were all worn out and until he was happy with what they have done. By the time he decided to wrap it up, it was an hour past lunch.

"Alright, you did well today. I expect the same performance on Thursday, although the training will be less strenuous. Merlin forbid any of you getting an injury. Now go get some rest and lunch. And I swear, if any of you get into an accident or injury before the game, I will throw you down the Astronomy tower. Clear?"

The team murmured their yes and headed out of the pitch. Draco was heading out when he saw someone watching from the sidelines.

"Granger. It's not good to spy on other Houses' training, you know." He called out.

"I wasn't spying, Malfoy." Hermione said as she walked down the bleachers and approached him. "I needed to tell you something."

"You've been watching long?"

"Yeah, but I don't mind. I enjoyed seeing your team mates curse you behind your back when you weren't looking."

Draco gave her a shocked look. "They were?"

Hermione laughed. Draco realized he liked it when she did. It made her look less tired than she already was.

"No, actually. They seem to look up to you, _captain_."

"Well, what can I say? _I'm_ their captain after all." Draco said with a smirk.

Hermione playfully rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Malfoy." And she smiled up at him, shielding her eyes because of the sunlight. He looked _human, _when he wasn't wearing extremely expensive robes or having that arrogant aura. Seeing him with the Quidditch robes and his broom slung on one shoulder, his windswept hair sticking up on all directions with a few strands falling on his eyes and sweat running down the side of his face made him look less like the arrogant pureblood. Well, he did like to boast every now and then.

"What were you going to tell me?" Draco asked, pulling Hermione away from her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, Dumbledore wants to see us after dinner at his office."

Draco nodded and said thanks. "I'll see you around, Granger." He said as he went the opposite direction.

"Yeah, see you." Hermione said, watching his retreating back.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. They all caught up to their studies and did their homework. The seventh years had no more time to rest or to go out and enjoy the sun. The teachers were stuffing more information and lessons to the students as the NEWTs were coming closer.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were no different. They were in the common room doing the latest potions project.

"What's the importance of the chopped radish to the Healing Potion for boils again?" Ron asked, doing his Potions assignment.

"Uhm, isn't it because of the smell or something?" Harry replied.

"No, isn't that for the Amorentia?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know." Ron groaned. "That's why I'm asking you. Hermione, aren't you the smartest witch if our age? I can't believe you don't know this!"

Hermione glared at him. "Ron, if you can't see, I'm also doing my home work. I'm getting all mixed up already, what with you spewing questions every minute!"

"Sorry, Hermione." Ron replied and groaned again. "Didn't McGonagall say that she'll tell the teachers to cut all our homework?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "She didn't tell them to _cut_ our homework, Ron. She just told them to lessen it."

"Well does it look like they listened to her?"

"At least _she_ didn't give us homework."

"That doesn't change a thing. All the other professors have given us homework."

"Ron, just stop complaining and finish your work."

"But I don't know the answer to this question! How am I supposed to make an essay on this crap?"

And he was responded with a potions book thrown to his head.

Dinner came and the Trio headed down to the Great Hall.

"Hermione, where have you been this morning?" Harry asked, suddenly remembering her sudden disappearance.

"Dumbledore called for me to tell Malfoy that he wants to see the both of us in his office after dinner."

"Do you reckon it's anything about our break-in plan?" Ron asked in a whisper.

"I honestly don't know. He didn't specify what we were going to talk about."

"Where did you find Malfoy?"

"In the Quidditch pitch."

Ron leaned closer, interested. "How did they fare?" He asked. "Do you think they'll win against Ravenclaw on Saturday?"

"I don't know, Ron. You shouldn't ask me about Quidditch." Hermione replied.

Ron instead started talking to Harry, and both boys fell into a heated conversation about Quidditch. Hermione started eating, aware that in a while, she was supposed to meet Dumbledore. Her eyes started roaming around, trying to remember every face in the crowd. In two months, they would be graduating, and they would be leaving Hogwarts. Her eyes travelled to the staff table, remembering every single one of their faces. Next year, she might not be seeing them anymore, the war was nearing, and she feared that maybe some of her school mates would not make it back at Hogwarts on their next school year. Some of her classmates and housemates were gone, pulled out by their parents to hide in a safer place until the war ends. Some of them mysteriously disappeared, and other, unfortunately, went over to the other side. It was sad to think that students as young as 11 years old had to endure hard times like these. Sixteen ad seventeen year old rebels went over to the Dark side, not knowing their fate, while others were forced by their parents to serve the Dark Lord.

_Some of them weren't as brave as Malfoy. _Brave? Or selfish?

Her thoughts drifted to Draco, to what he has done for the Order. Until now, she did not know if he was doing it because he truly wanted to help the Light, or if he only wanted to be safe. _If he wanted to be safe, he wouldn't be a spy. His task is far more difficult and dangerous than ours._ She then told herself that he, in fact, was sincere about wanting to help the Light, and she finally admitted to herself that she believed him when he said that he wanted to build a better world, a better future.

She suddenly remembered that they had to meet up with Dumbledore, so she hastily finished her food, bade goodbye to Harry and Ron (who were still talking about Quidditch, but were now joined by Seamus and Dean.), and headed for Dumbledore's office.

She knocked on his door and heard him tell her to enter. Entering, she saw that Draco was already there.

"I'm sorry I'm late, professor."

"No, no, it's alright, Ms. Granger. Mr. Malfoy just arrived a few seconds before you have. Take a seat."

She noticed that Dumbledore was again his happy self, with the smile on his face and the twinkle on his eyes.

"I trust that you have heard about the news? About the Horcrux?"

Both nodded in affirmative.

"Very well, now, we must move on to the other Horcrux: Nangini. Since Mr. Potter already has a plan to break into Gringotts and steal the cup, all we need is a plan to destroy probably the hardest Horcrux to destroy. We all know that Voldemort hardly leaves Nangini out of his sight, it goes with him all the time, and it has a mind of its own, not to mention Voldemort being able to communicate with it because he is Parseltongue."

Hermione and Draco nodded in understanding. "Mister Malfoy, you have been with Voldemort many times before, and you can see the actions of Nangini." Draco nodded. "I want you to work with Miss Granger, tell her the behavior of the snake, the usual actions, and the like, so that we could figure out how to kill him immediately. Miss Granger, I can show you more memories that include the snake so that the both of you can understand it more. Is that alright?"

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore." Both replied, glancing at each other.

"Very well, you may come by my office anytime during your free time so that you can watch the memories together. That is all, you may leave." Both nodded again and stood up to leave.

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore."

"Goodbye, professor." Draco and Hermione said in unison.

Dumbledore smiled and waved them goodbye, smiling widely with the twinkle in his eye.

* * *

A/N: Please Review and tell me what you think! Thanks!


	7. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and its characters.

* * *

Draco groaned once they've reached outside. "Great, now we have to plan for the break in _and_ find a way to destroy the horrid snake."

"Not to mention studying for our NEWTs."

"Why do we have to do everything? What is the old bat doing, anyway?"

"Don't call him that." Hermione glared at Draco. "He's probably helping around, too. Remember when he destroyed Merope Gaunt's wand?"

"So what's he going to do now?"

"Does it look like I know?"

"Well, don't you know _everything?"_

"Malfoy, I am not some sort of heavenly being who can see everything everyone does, you know."

"Well, you sure are acting like it. 'He's probably helping around too, blah blah'" Draco said, imitating Hermione. Hermione glared. "Keyword being _probably_, or have you skipped that part?"

Both were so into the argument that they did not notice Harry head towards them.

"Who cares about the-"

"You guys care to lower down your voices? The whole of Europe could probably hear you."

Both jumped at Harry's voice. "Potter, please tell Granger that nobody cares about 'probably' and it does not make a difference."

"Of course it does! It makes-"

"Granger-"

"Malfoy-"

"Shut up, the both of you!" Harry interrupted. Both shut up immediately.

"You bicker like an old couple." Harry observed. Draco and Hermione glared at him.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "All I'm saying is to lower down your voices. Others might over hear you. They're probably wondering why Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are talking to each other."

"We aren't talking, Potter, we are arguing. We always argue. That's nothing out of the ordinary."

"Yeah, but _what_ are you arguing about?"

"How Dumbledore is out of his mind. That isn't out of the ordinary either."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, Malfoy, stop being a prick."

"Honestly, _Granger_, stop being a bloody know-it-all."

And thus, they start arguing again. Harry rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself "at least some things never change."

"Both of you stop it. Hermione, Ernie's looking for you. Head's duties."

"Harry, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Hermione said exasperated, and left.

"That woman is impossible, I tell you." Draco said. Hermione turned around and glared at him. "I heard that, Malfoy. You're no better." And she disappeared as she turned a corner.

"Honestly, is she always like this?" Draco asked Harry.

"Nope, only around you." Harry replied cheekily.

"Oh, now I feel _so_ special." Draco said as he also left.

* * *

The next few weeks passed quickly. They met up every Saturday to talk about the plans for the break in and Draco and Hermione met up once or twice a week to talk about Nangini. Slytherin won against Ravenclaw while Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff. The championships were going to be held during the last Saturday of the month.

Today, it was exactly one month until the end of the school year, one week until their NEWTs, and one month and one week until Draco and Hermione had to get married.

Waking up and realizing this, Hermione got scared. Yes, they were almost done planning for the break in: Harry already asked Bill about the Goblin and their plan was going smoothly, but their progress on finding a way to kill the snake was going slowly. How were they going to kill something so close to Voldemort? They thought of all the possibilities: Draco killing it when they had a Death Eater meeting, luring the snake, Harry talking to it in Parseltongue, but none of them were going to work. There was less homework since the NEWTs were coming up, so Hermione and Draco were able to meet each other more often. They usually met each other in the library, although sometimes they did not do research and instead studied.

Sometimes, though, they would bicker and argue like they used to.

Hermione found herself looking forward to their meetings. Draco became her 'study partner,' and she was glad that he was because he nearly matched her intellectual skills and they were often found debating on whether dragon scales or snake skin would be a better ingredient to use in the various healing potions, or having an intellectual conversation about their thoughts on the Goblin wars, or talking about the latest books they've read..

Hermione has never had these intelligent conversations with Harry or Ron, both opting instead to talk about Quidditch. Draco, although he was also an avid Quidditch fan, also spent time reading books and studying.

Sometimes, they would share information about themselves, but not personal enough to make them awkward. The other day, Hermione learned that Draco liked running too, although he would prefer flying.

"It makes you feel free, flying. The way you fly so fast to the ground, and at the last moment, when you're about to hit the ground and die, you make a swift turn back up. It's phenomenal. You see things you don't usually see from down below. You feel like you're flying to the moon at night, you get to watch the sun rising and setting in the horizon, you see a bigger picture of the whole world, and you appreciate things more. You feel free."

Hermione also learned that he was close friends with Blaise Zabini, him being the only close friend he had, although they had a falling out because Blaise's father forced him to join the Dark Side, together with Theodore Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Hermione also told him things about herself, why she was afraid of failure, why she wanted to excel at everything she did, what her parents do.

"They're dentists."

"What on Earth are dentists?" Draco asked.

"Muggle healers for teeth." She explained.

He told her to tell him things about the muggle world, what they used for transportation, what a telly was, subjects taught at school. Hermione was happy that Draco was interested about the muggle world, and sometimes, she also asked him about his Pureblood heritage, if they have been serving the Dark Lord ever since, what they did during the summer, although one time, she asked him about his relationship with his father.

"My father and I used to be best friends when I was a kid." He explained. "He taught me Quidditch, bought me all the things I wanted, taught me how to play chess, and all that. We fell apart when the Dark Lord rose again, and I felt disgusted when he wanted me to serve the Dark Lord and get the Mark. Honestly, Voldemort isn't even a pureblood. My views changed then. I am disappointed with my father, because he taught me to belong to the top, and yet he grovels at the feet of someone below him." Draco finished bitterly.

* * *

Hermione headed to the library, replaying memories of her and Draco in her head. Upon reaching the library, she found that Draco was already there, seated at their usual place. Reaching their table, she noticed that Draco had bags under his eyes and he looked paler than usual.

"Malfoy, is there anything wrong?"

Draco held up a letter he was holding. "It's from my mother. I received it lat night. She got beaten by my father yesterday." Hermione gasped. "Why?"

"My father was not in a good mood, Voldemort seemed to be mad at him, and my mother only wanted to know what was wrong, but then my father turned his anger on her. He beat her up." Draco said in a monotone. "Although she says she's alright, I need to get her out of there. She cannot stay there anymore."

Hermione looked at him with a sad expression. "We're going to find a way to get her, Malfoy. Have you told this to Dumbledore?" Draco shook his head. "He left. He's not at his office. I'll probably talk to him later. "

Hermione nodded and they both fell into a comfortable silence. Hermione broke it, asking: "Malfoy, tell me about your mother."

And with that, he told her. He told her how caring she was, how she was always concerned for his safety, how, if she had a say about it, she wouldn't let Draco do Quidditch because he might get injured, how she used to always send letters to him during his first year at Hogwarts, how she talked to Snape about Draco being forced to take the Dark Mark, how she was so brave, staying in a house full of Death Eaters just so that they would think that she and Draco were still in the Dark Side. The way Draco talked about his mother was amazing. It showed how he really loved her, how he was so worried about her, and how much he really cared about her.

Hermione stared at him from across the table, shocked that this is who he became. From the snobbish and arrogant kid he was back then, he finally grew up to be a different person. Yes, he would still be a prick sometimes, but it unnerved her how someone who was brought up to hate all things muggle and who was taught to be superior over everyone would turn around 360 degrees and help the Light, the side he was taught to hate and to loathe.

"How does it feel, Malfoy, to turn away from everything you've been taught?" Hermione asked.

Draco stared at her for a long time, his grey eyes boring into hers. "It feels good, like I've finally done something _right_ in my life, like I finally knew what the right thing to do was without others dictating what I should be doing."

Hermione gave him a smile. "That's good, Malfoy." He smiled right back at her.

They then continued working on the Horcrux.

The next day, Saturday, they met again for the break in plan.

"Look, guys, this is possibly the last time we're going to meet. We're doing to head to Diagon Alley next Saturday."

The three nodded. "We have a well-thought out plan and we're going to be able to get the cup successfully if we follow through everything. I already talked to Dumbledore, Moody, and Bill. We're going to bring Moody along with us and Ginny too."

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Because she's part of the Order now. Dumbledore told me to include her. She's coming in a while."

And as if on cue, Ginny Weasley entered the Room. "Sorry I'm late, got held up by professor McGonagall." The rest nodded and Harry continued. "As I was saying, this is going to be our last meeting, so we're just going to go through our plan and make arrangements." They nodded and got to work.

The rest of the week, they were not able to talk about anything about the Horcruxes and Voldemort. It was their NEWT exams, and they spent the whole time studying.

Coming out of the potions room, Harry, Hermione, and Ron headed to their common room. "One more day of exams and we're free." Ron said.

"Not really, Ron. We still have to get the Horcrux."

Ron groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"And after that, there's going to be the war." Hermione added.

"I have Voldemort. If he was dead, then we wouldn't be doing this crap."

"Everyone hates Voldemort." Harry said.

"Except for his followers."

"Yeah, except for them."

They then continued to study for their last day of exams.

After their last test, which was on a Friday, they lost no time heading to Dumbledore's office.

"Hello, children, I trust you've finished your tests?" Dumbledore asked.

They three, together with Malfoy and Ginny all nodded.

"So Moody told me about your plan for tomorrow and the days after that. I just wanted to wish you luck and remind you to always be safe and watch your back." They all nodded and headed out.

Outside, Harry faced the four of them.

"So, this is it. We meet up early tomorrow in the courtyard. Then we head to Hogsmeade where we'll apparate from there to the Ministry. We go to the Ministry and pick up Mad-Eye and then head to the Leaky Cauldron where we put our tings and go over our last minute plans."

They all nodded and Harry took a deep breath.

"See you all tomorrow then, have a good night's sleep. You'll need it."

* * *

A/N: Here it is! Your daily update of my story. Thanks for the reviews! And please also check out my other stories and tell me what you guys think. Thanks!


	8. Chapter Seven

A/N: Hey there everyone! Sorry that it took longer to update. I have been rather busy and I had a bit of writer's block.

I don't own Harry Potter and its characters. :D

* * *

The next day, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Ginny all met up in the courtyard. It was a Saturday after exams, so everyone else was still asleep. They headed down to Hogsmeade, but not before Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall bade them goodbye and good luck.

Arriving in Hogsmeade, they entered the Three Broomsticks where they were to Apparate to the Ministry to pick up Mad-Eye.

Ginny had to Side-Apparate with Harry.

Before leaving, Harry faced them.

"We've got everything? The sword?" Draco nodded, holding up a bag containing Gryffindor's sword.

"The fake cup?" Ron nodded, patting a rucksack he was holding.

"The fang?" Hermione nodded. "Here."

"Alright then, let's go." And with a loud pop, they all disappeared.

Arriving there, they were a bit dizzy from the Apparition.

"Tell me again why we didn't just Floo?" Ron said, holding his head.

"Because the Ministry is monitoring the Floo network, Ron." Hermione replied.

"Damn the Ministry." Ron mumbled as they walked across the Ministry to get to Moody's office.

Getting there, they found that Moody was already waiting for them and beside him stood the Goblin. Harry stared at the Goblin for a long time. "I know you." He said to the Goblin.

"I know you too, Harry Potter." The Goblin replied.

"You were the Goblin who took me and Hagrid to my vault when I was on my First Year."

"Yes, I have. My name is-"

"Griphook. I know." Harry interrupted.

Moody spoke up. "Dumbledore specifically picked him. That what was he was doing for the past few days. He knew Griphook was the Goblin who took you and Hagrid to your vault, and he knows your good intentions." Harry nodded, still looking at the Goblin.

"You have the sword, Mr. Potter?" Griphook asked.

Harry nodded, motioning to Draco, who showed a bag containing the sword.

Griphook nodded. "We can't do it today, though. Many Ministry officials will be there today, getting money to spend for the weekend. We shall go tomorrow, where wizards will be spending their money around the place." The rest nodded.

"You have to take a car ride to the Leaky Cauldron." Moody said. "You can't apparate or Floo."

"Even the Goblin's going to stay at the Leaky?" Ron asked.

"No, he has to go back to Gringotts. The other Goblins will get suspicious why he isn't there. We'll meet him tomorrow at Gringotts." Mad-Eye explained.

They nodded and headed outside where the Ministry car was waiting. Stepping outside, they were greeted by a small car.

Harry, Ron, and Draco stared at it with eyebrows raised. Draco looked disgusted.

"_This_ is where we'll be riding?" Draco asked.

"Don't look like that, boy." Moody growled. "All the Ministry cars were taken for the weekend. Be glad you actually have one."

"How do we all fit?" Hermione asked, eyeing the tiny car.

"You'll fit just fine, Ms. Granger. I won't be riding with you. I'll be on my broom."

"Can't _we_ ride brooms too, then?" Ron asked.

"No. Everyone will wonder why you are here. Remember, no one should know that you are here." Mad-Eye replied. "I'm heading off. I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron. Just tell the driver where he should take you." Before leaving, he shouted. "And you can't cast an expanding charm on it."

"Why not?" Shouted Ron as Moody few higher and higher up into the air.

"Non-magic wards!" Moody replied, and soon, he disappeared.

"What does he mean by that?" Ron asked.

"It means, Weasley, that you can't use magic inside the car, Merlin knows why." Draco replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Okay, let's just squeeze ourselves in and get this over and done with." Harry said.

So Harry sat up front in the passenger seat as Ron entered first, followed by Ginny, followed by Draco. Hermione looked warily at the full car. "There's no more space for me."

Harry looked back at them. "Sit on someone or something."

Hermione looked at him with a bewildered expression. "What?"

"Hermione, just get in the car and sit on Malfoy's lap. We're wasting time."

"Fine." Hermione grumbled, getting in and sitting on Draco's lap.

"Well, Granger, you're going to have to sit on top of me for the whole trip. Although," Draco said, "I'm not complaining." He continued, smirking, as he slowly slid his hands down her thighs.

Hermione slapped his hands away. "Stop it, Malfoy. Not here."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Not here? So we could do it somewhere else?" he said suggestively.

Blushing, Hermione tried and failed to look mad as she turned her head to face him. "You know what I mean."

Draco thought she looked cute, with her face red, trying to look mad.

"Okay, okay." He said chuckling as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Ginny watched this with amusement, while Ron and Harry looked away. "Get a room." Ron mumbled.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

"Where's Moody?" Ginny asked.

As if on cue, he appeared from the hallway. "I already got you rooms. There are only four rooms available, so two of you are going to have to sleep in the same room. Granger and Malfoy, stay in the room to the first door to the left, Potter, Weasley and Weasley, third floor, you'll find three rooms there, chose among yourselves which rooms you will take."

"But-" Hermione and Draco both started, but Moody held up a hand to stop them.

"No buts, no questions asked. Now go put your bags down, get some rest and we'll meet down here before dinner to talk about the plans. Now go before anyone sees you!" he said, shooing them away.

Inside the room, Hermione started pacing.

"Why on Earth did he want us to stay in the same room? I could have easily stayed with Ginny! Malfoy, we're going to share the same bed!" Hermione said hysterically.

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "Granger."

"What?"

He took out his wand and charmed the bed to split into two. One side went to one end of the room while the other side went to the other end. When this was done, Draco looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You were saying?"

Hermione looked at him blankly. "Nothing."

And she dumped her things on her side of the room.

"Honestly, Granger, I thought you were the smartest witch in our year?"

Hermione sighed tiredly. "Malfoy, stop saying that. I'm not in the mood for a witty conversation."

Draco shrugged. "That's alright, I guess. Why don't you take a nap and I'll wake you up when we have to head down for our last preparations."

Hermione nodded. "Where are you going?"

"Down."

"Don't get seen."

"I won't." He replied, taking a cap from his bag and placing it on his head, hiding the famous blond hair. He then smiled and left the room. Heading down, he saw Harry and Ron sitting in a booth at the corner.

"Mind if I join you?" Draco asked. Harry and Ron looked up and Ron gave room for him to sit.

"Where's Hermione?"

"Sleeping, she seemed pretty tired." Draco replied.

Harry nodded in understanding.

"You like her?" Ron suddenly asked.

Draco looked at him like he was crazy. "What?"

"Don't lie, Malfoy. I can see it in your eyes, every time you're with her. And we know that you spent an awful lot of time together for the past few weeks, what with Dumbledore telling you to work together. There must be some sort of feelings you have for her." Harry replied.

"Why do you care?" Draco asked roughly.

"Because she's our friend, Malfoy. We know she likes you too, and we don't want her to get hurt." Ron said.

"I-I don't know." Draco sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "There's something, but I don't know what it is."

"You do know that there's a ninety percent possibility that you're getting married, right?"

"I know, Potter, but I try not to think about it. It hasn't really sunk in yet."

Harry and Ron nodded in understanding, dropping the subject.

A few hours later, Ginny found the three laughing and talking in a booth at the corner. They were laughing and talking like friends, and Draco looked like he fitted perfectly with the two other boys.

Draco looked at his watch. "You reckon Moody's coming in a while?" he asked the two other boys.

"Reckon so. Why?" Ron replied.

"I'll wake Granger up." Both boys nodded and Draco left the booth and went up to the room he shared with Hermione.

Arriving at their room, Draco found Hermione sleeping peacefully. He watched her for a while as she slept, all traces of tiredness and stress on her face invisible. _Do you like her?_ Ron's question still rang in his ears. _Did_ he like her? These past few days made him closer to her, he got to know her more, and he found out that he enjoyed being with her, he enjoyed being able to talk to someone about his views and opinions about certain things. _Is that it? You enjoy talking to her about your opinions? _A voice inside him asked. _No._ He realized that he actually looked forward to meeting her, and his day was usually dull and boring whenever he didn't meet up with her. He also found himself thinking about her during the past few days, thinking about what she was doing at the moment, or what she would think whenever he had a conversation with anyone. He usually got frustrated with others when they couldn't pick up and retort with a witty remark just like Hermione did. _They would just agree to anything I say, even if I say they look like a cross-breed of a Thestral and a house elf._

He surfaced from his thoughts of her, deciding to push aside the question and instead wake her up. He shook her arm. "Granger, wake up, we're having the final preparations in a while."

Hermione opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing the sleep off her eyes. "Okay, I'll come down in a few minutes. I'll just clean up." Draco nodded and headed down.

A few minutes later, they were all downstairs, huddled in the corner booth.

"So everyone remembers what to do?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Harry. We're all only going to be doing one thing."

"But we need to have perfect timing." Harry reminded. Everyone nodded.

"We all meet here early tomorrow. Everyone should be wearing their disguises." Moody said.

They spent another hour preparing until eventually, Moody told them to head up and get some sleep.

* * *

A/N: Not exactly my best chapter, but anyway, here it is. Sorry for keeping you waiting.


	9. Chapter Eight

A/N: So here it is...

I do not own Harry Potter or its characters.

* * *

They woke up early the next day, all nervous for what they were going to do. They knew that it was well-planned and that no complications would arise if they followed the plan well, but anything could happen within a minute. They put on disguises, just to cover their famous features. Harry put a concealment charm on his scar and changed his eye color to brown, Ron and Ginny changed the color of their red hair, Draco changed his blonde hair and grey eyes, and Hermione changed her hair style, making it long and straight. They traveled to Gringotts using the same small car and met up with Moody in front of the bank.

"So this is it." Moody started. "No one is supposed to mess up, understand?"

They all nodded.

"Here goes nothing." Harry mumbled as they put their plan into action.

Ron and Ginny entered first, together with Moody. Harry, Hermione, and Draco stayed behind, keeping a look out around, trying to see if there was anything or anyone suspicious-looking.

Ron and Ginny went up to the counter. "Excuse me; I would want to enter my vault." He said to the goblin.

"Wand, please." The Goblin said. Ron took out his wand and handed it to the Goblin.

"Name, sir?"

"Augustus Arkwright and this is my sister, Bellarmine."

"Very well." The Goblin scanned around for another Goblin to take them to their vault and Griphook made sure to be seen clearly. The Goblin called him.

"Griphook! Bring Mr. Augustus and Ms. Bellarmine Arkwright to their vault."

Griphook walked up to them, showing no sign that he knew them and continued with the business-like manner Goblins have when they worked. "Key?"

Ron gave him a fake key.

"Vault number?"

"801."

The Goblin at the desk raised his eyebrows (do Goblins have eyebrows?). The larger the number was, the deeper the vault. Ron said the Vault next to the Lestranges.

Griphook nodded, and led Ron and Ginny to the cart.

While Ron and Ginny were talking to the Goblin, Harry and Hermione snuck behind them using the invisibility cloak. Moody went out of the bank, standing close to Draco, and they both kept guard.

So Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Griphook were all cramped up in a cart. The crazy ride was rather long, because the vault was deep down. Finally, they arrived at the vault of the Lestranges.

Griphook took out the key to the vault. He duplicated the key the last time Rabastan entered his vault. He put the key into the lock and pushed the vault door open, but none of them entered yet.

"There are many ancient wards here. We have to be very careful. Miss Granger, you know how to put down the wards?" Griphook asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied hesitantly "but I'm going to need time. I don't know what spells they used here so I need to figure it out still."

"Okay, Hermione. But you better be fast." Harry said. "Ron, get the fake cup prepared." Ron nodded and got the cup from his bag. "Everyone, look for the cup while Hermione's figuring how to put down the wards."

They all faced the vault and everyone had the same expression: Eyes bulging out of their sockets, mouth agape.

"Uhm, Harry? How are we going the find the cup in this place?" Ron asked slowly, eyes still not leaving the piles and piles of gold and jewels.

"All this riches could possibly feed the whole of England for a lifetime!" Ginny exclaimed.

Harry stood there, blinking. "We should start searching now. In a few minutes, the Goblin will wonder why we aren't back there yet. Griphook, do you have any idea where the cup may be hidden?"

Griphook shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, but I've only been in this vault for one time, and I was not able to go inside. We couldn't touch the riches because there are curses here. We could only touch them once Miss Granger set down the wards."

"Hermione, you have to be fast."

"Yes, yes, I'm thinking, Harry. But try to search with your eyes first. I have researched lots of information about ancient magic, and I'm pretty sure I could figure it out in a while-"

"Hermione, stop talking and start thinking." Ron said, interrupting her.

So while Hermione was trying out spells and charms to put down the wards, Harry, Griphook, Ron, and Ginny were searching for the cup in the mountains of riches the Lestranges owned with their eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the bank, Draco and Moody were still keeping an eye out. Draco was starting to get bored, until a commotion caused by a group of people caught his eye. He immediately looked for Moody, and found that he was looking at another direction. Panic rose to his chest and his mind was thinking about what he was supposed to do.

Because a couple of yards away was the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange.

He prayed and hoped that she would go to another direction, probably to the Apparition point or something, but unfortunately, luck hadn't been with them today. She was striding ever so haughtily towards the bank, and every person before her cowered in fear and moved away. She had her head held high, a manic smile on her face, seeing the reaction of others as she walked by. She gave a loud, mad laugh that made the people move even farther away from her. Women hid their children behind their skirts as she passed, and shop owners closed their shops, afraid that she would enter them. She was walking all alone, but that did not bother her.

It was worse for Draco because, since the people moved away from her, it was easier and faster for her to get to the bank. Draco knew that the others weren't done yet and that it would take them a long time to come back. He finally met Moody's eye, and for the first time, Moody didn't know what to do. He was far away from Bellatrix and Draco, who was the nearest to the bank.

Draco knew that she would be passing nearby him, since that was the only way to enter Gringotts. She was getting closer and closer, until she was merely meters away from him. Without thinking, Draco purposely crashed onto Bellatrix Lestrange.

"OW!" Bellatrix shrieked, shocked and angry that someone would even _dream_ to touch her with their filthy hands.

Draco hoped that she wouldn't recognize his features, although he had changed his hair and eye color. "I am so sorry, Madam Lestrange. I apologize profusely." He said over and over, faking a Russian accent. He didn't know why he chose Russian, but it seemed the perfect way to be in disguise. He looked over her shoulder and saw Moody giving him an approving glance and some people staring at them.

Bellatrix looked at him disgustedly, debating whether to punish him or to ignore him. She chose the latter and made a movement as if to shoo him away. "Go away, you good for nothing idiot. I have something to attend to, something more important than wasting my time with filth like you." She said haughtily and moved. But Draco held her back, thinking fast. "But Madam Lestrange, I am no ordinary man. Do you not recognize me?"

Bellatrix looked t him closely. "No. who are you? Although you remind me a little of my nephew."

Draco felt a rush of panic surge through him, but kept an indifferent look. "I am Alexei Morozov, a nephew of Grigori Morozov. I trust that you know him?" Draco prayed silently that his act would convince her. The Black family was good friend with the Morozov family, and Draco decided to use them in order to buy him some time. It was true that there was a Grigori Morozov, but there wasn't an Alexei. But still, just as long as she wasn't entering the bank yet, it was good enough for him.

Luckily for him, his act gave him the reaction he was looking for. Bellatrix brightened up.

"Oh! Grigori! I know him." She replied haughtily. "We are good friends, although I haven't heard from him much."

"Sadly, he is sick." Draco thanked Merlin that he was a good actor, one of the traits a Slytherin usually had. They were good liars, so they were good actors. They hid behind masks and were fast thinkers, making it seem that they were confident with their answers, which made them less doubtful.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. He has sent me here to London to search for a particular potion, a potion I'm sure you might know, what with you being very intelligent and all." He figured that if he used charm, she would all the more be interested in talking to him.

Bellatrix smiled arrogantly, which made Draco want to wring her neck. "Of course I know, dear Alexei. I know almost everything. I work with the Dark Lord, therefore I know everything."

Draco scoffed in his head. _Really?_ Draco wondered how such information could actually fit in that head. _She really must be going crazy, with an ego as humungous as a Hippogriff._

Draco smiled. "Yes, well, it's this potion that…" And Draco droned on and on, the lies slipping easily from his lips, and Bellatrix absorbing every single thing of it. Draco was happy that he chose someone she cared about, for it seemed that she was genuinely concerned about Grigori Morozov. He hoped that the others were almost finished, if not on their way out. He wasn't sure how long he could talk until Bellatrix would cut him off and say that she had more important matters to tend to.

* * *

Harry and the others were still there though, much to Draco's hoping. They did not know that Bellatrix was there, but Hermione finally was able to put down the wards.

"Now go through the riches, but be careful not to make a mess, we don't know when the Lestranges would come back." Hermione said, as she carefully moved aside a giant necklace.

It seemed so long, until Ron finally shouted out. "I found it! I found the cup!"

"Good, now get the fake one and replace it with it. Put it somewhere hidden, so it won't easily be seen." Harry instructed. "Everyone get back to the entrance so that Hermione could put the wards back up and we could all go."

* * *

"The potion is very expensive, and very complicated. It is-"

"Look, Alexei," Bellatrix interrupted him and Draco felt panicked again. His blood turned cold and beads of sweat appeared in his forehead. "I'm quite in a schedule, right now, and I need to go." Bellatrix continued. "However, I shall contact Grigori and visit him. Now I need to go."

Draco's breathing became shallow. "O-okay." He stuttered. "That could be arranged."

Bellatrix gave him a weird look and walked away. Draco then took out his wand and pointed it at her. "Obliviate."

And with that, Bellatrix Lestrange never knew what had happened, never knew about Alexei Morozov and his false yet convincing story about his 'uncle.'

Bellatrix Lestrange entered the bank, showed her wand, and was led to her vault, vault 802. She passed a cramped cart as it was going back up, and entered her vault, not knowing that it had been broken into just a couple of minutes before she entered.

Outside the bank, Draco sat heavily on the steps to the bank, drained yet relieved. He just hoped that his efforts were not put to waste, that the others had successfully gotten Hufflepuff's cup. _Did I mention that I loath Hufflepuff?_ Draco said to himself.

Moody approached him and gave him a pat on the back. "That was a real piece of work, Malfoy. I'm amazed at what you have done."

Draco shrugged. "It comes naturally, with me being a Slytherin and all that, although those were the scariest 10 minutes of my life."

Moody looked up. "Oh look. Here they are." Draco looked up and found the others except Griphook-he stayed behind because he still had work to do-walking toward them with satisfied smiles.

"Everything finished, then?" Moody asked. They all nodded and Ron patted his bag. "Good, because we need to get out of here before she comes out."

"Who comes out?" Hermione asked.

"Questions later. Go ride the car now and let's go."

Arriving at the Leaky Cauldron, they all seated themselves at the corner booth, all of them still wearing their disguises.

"So tell us what happened." Harry started.

"No. you first." Draco insisted.

"Okay, well, there isn't much to say. We got in smoothly, Hermione put down the wards, although a bit longer than we thought, and we searched for the cup, and we found it, and we left." Harry summed up. Draco nodded.

"Well you'll never guess who was there a while ago."

"Who?" They all replied.

"Bellatrix Lestrange herself." The others were shocked. "Really? How come we haven't seen her?" Ron asked.

"Because Malfoy distracted her for a good ten minutes, to buy you time." Moody supplied. "Go on, tell them what happened." He said to Draco.

"Well, Aunt Bella was walking towards the bank, and you were all still there inside, so I purposely bumped into her and pretended that I was a nephew of our family friend. So I was babbling lies about him being sick and needing a potion and all that. And luckily, the man, Grigori Morozov, was a really close friend of hers so she was concerned for him and believed the nonsense I was saying. Then eventually, she grew bored of my jabbering so she just said that she would visit him sometime. And I knew that there would be a problem if she did, in fact, visit him, so when she turned back, I obliviated her. So she doesn't remember a thing." Draco finished. Everyone was looking at him with admiration. "So you just made up those things on the spot?" Ron asked.

"Well, yeah." Draco responded with a shrug. "I can't believe that we missed out that scenario where she would actually be going to the bank."

Harry sighed and mussed his hair. "Yeah, we thought she would be with Voldemort the entire time."

"But that's over now, isn't it?" Hermione spoke up. "Let's just be glad that Malfoy used his Slytherin skills to hold off Bellatrix." She said, looking across the table to Draco and smiling at him. "Thank you, Malfoy, for putting your Slytherin traits to good use."

Draco merely shrugged and said that it was nothing.

Moody then got up. "Very well, children. I'll be heading off. You leave tomorrow at noon; the car will take you from here to the Ministry where you can apparate. I will tell professor Dumbledore that you have succeeded." They all nodded and Harry handed him the bag with the cup inside. Moody took it and headed out. "I'll be keeping this until we see Dumbledore. In the mean time, go rest and enjoy yourselves." And with that, he left the pub.

Harry sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Thank Merlin we're done with that. We could finally rest." Ron nodded. "Let's all meet down here for dinner. We'll have drinks and all that. Let's celebrate!" He suggested happily and everyone-except Hermione, who doesn't really like drinking-approved, excited at the idea. They all headed back to their rooms to rest, for it was only after lunch.


	10. Chapter Nine

A/N: okay, so I was reading some Harry Potter stuff, and I read about the Four Founders' belongings and remembered Slytherin's Locket. I think I wrote in my chapter four that Draco said that Slytherin did not have any belongings he left, but then I forgot about his locket, so I'm sorry if I put that he didn't have one –except for the chamber, but it doesn't matter, because they won't be able to give the locket to Griphook anyway because the locket was destroyed because it was a Horcrux. There you go, just a little something I wanted to share. :D (I can't believe I forgot that, I'm so ashamed, because after all, I'm a Slytherin. Haha.)

I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

"I'm so tired from thinking of all those complex spells to put down the wards." Hermione said as she and Draco climbed up the stairs going to their room.

"I never knew lying would be quite tiring." Draco replied, yawning.

Both of them were physically and mentally drained, that once they've reached their room, both had flung themselves into their respective beds and had fallen asleep-fully clothed, not even bothering to take off their shoes.

Hermione awoke first, and for a moment, she did not know where she was. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and finally remembered. She checked her watch-6:00 pm. She sighed and ran a hand through her messy hair. They had slept for 6 hours; although she felt as if it were only minutes ago that she had thrown herself to bed. Remembering her roommate, she looked across the room to see Draco still asleep on his stomach. She stood up, deciding to take a long, soothing shower.

Draco woke up while Hermione was in the shower, and once she got out, she almost laughed at what she saw. Draco was sitting up, half awake, with his hair all mussed up. His eyes were half closed and his head dropped every once in a while.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Hermione said.

He gave her a sleepy smile, and her breath caught. He looked so normal-cute, even. "What time is it?" He asked, stifling a yawn.

"Thirty minutes after six."

He was fully awake now, rubbing the sleep off his eyes. "Really? I slept that long?"

"Yeah, we must have been really tired." She replied. Draco nodded and stood up.

"I guess I'll take a shower then." He said, heading to the bathroom. Hermione nodded absently.

A few minutes later, Draco emerged from the bathroom, all cleaned and newly dressed. It was rather dark now, so the only source of light was the bathroom light. When Draco turned the light off, they could barely see each other, and although either of them could switch off the light, neither did. Draco moved to his bed with caution, careful not to bump into anything. They just both sat on their beds, facing each other.

"So…" Hermione started.

"So." Draco replied.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know, really. We can't go downstairs yet, it's too early."

"And we still need to put on our disguises." She saw Draco nodding in the dark.

"We could figure out how to kill Nangini." Draco suggested.

Hermione nodded and finally switched on the light. "Okay, I brought some books with me." Draco looked at her with a weird expression. "You brought books with you?"

"Yes, why not?"

Draco shrugged.

"So where can we work?" Hermione asked, regarding the small room.

"We could work on the bed. Put it back together so we could have a larger space." Draco suggested and with a flick of his wand, both beds became one.

Hermione opened her bag and dumped seven books on the bed. Draco looked at the pile of books. Then he looked at Hermione. "You brought all these."

"Yes."

"We hardly use them anyways. There's such a few information on Nangini, and everything else is useless. Unless you have a book 'How to Kill Nangini,' I don't think the books will help."

"Yes they could. We could know about Nangini's background."

Draco rolled his eyes. "And how would anyone write about that? Did Voldemort give an exclusive interview about his snake? No one except the Death Eaters know about its whereabouts and its doings."

Hermione rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, last I heard, you're a Death Eater."

"I am not a Death Eater." Draco said in a deadly voice.

"Well a spy or something! Whatever it is, You're still around Voldemort and you can see his snake!" Hermione said, exasperated.

It was quite a funny scene, form an outsider's point of view. They were both arguing, facing each other at opposite sides of the bed.

"You know I haven't seen neither of them since I've met up with Voldemort in the forest! And he didn't have his snake with him!" Draco replied. Hermione froze.

"Did you just say that his snake wasn't with him the night you met up with him?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Yes, he doesn't bring him with him _all_ the time, you know. The snake has to eat."

Hermione's anger flared up again. "Well then _why_ didn't you tell me sooner?" She asked, nearly shouting.

"I don't know! Maybe because I assumed you knew already!" Draco replied.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other; both glaring at each other so fiercely that the bed in between them could have spontaneously combusted.

Draco sighed and ran his hands through his hair, breaking off his gaze. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? It completely slipped my mind. And besides, it doesn't happen often. I rarely see them apart. I think it's a total number of two times that I haven't seen him with his snake. It looks weird, because the snake is basically his third hand. Not seeing the snake around his neck is like seeing him naked." He shuddered at the thought.

Hermione decided that it was not the time to pick a fight, so she cooperated. "Where do you think it goes?" She asked, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. Hunting for food, maybe?"

Hermione nodded absently, thinking.

* * *

An hour later, they both decided to go down.

"Let's pack these up and go down. We deserve a break form all these." Draco suggested.

"Yeah, you're right." Hermione replied, returning the books in her bag. He then led her out of the room, opening the door for her. They both saw that the rest were already there.

"Oi! You two! What took you so long?" Ron asked when they reached the table.

"Got caught up figuring how to kill the bloody snake." Draco said, taking a seat.

"Well, I suggest we stop thinking of anything now and get drunk!" Ron shouted and the waitress came, bringing them firewhiskey.

A few minutes later, the men got up from the table to look for 'fun.'

Ginny and Hermione stayed, preferring to talk.

"So, how's Malfoy?" Ginny started.

"He's a wreck." Hermione replied happily.

Ginny raised her eyes. "I thought you two were going well?"

"Sometimes, although we bicker every five minutes."

Ginny shrugged. "Oh well, better than hexing each other every five minutes."

Hermione laughed. Ginny looked over Hermione's shoulder and raised her eyebrows.

"Oooh, speak of the devil. Look at what your fiancée's doing." Ginny said with a smirk. Hermione turned around and a burst of jealousy shot through her. "What on Earth is he doing?" She hissed. "Excuse me." She said to Ginny as she got up from the table and headed to Draco.

_The nerve of him to actually flirt so shamelessly with a blonde bitch!_ Hermione thought.

Hermione ripped Draco away from the blonde he was flirting with.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?"

"What? I'm talking to the girl."

"Well it seemed more than talking from my view." She ground out with clenched teeth.

Draco looked at her strangely then smirked.

"You told me I could still date and flirt with other girls. Are you jealous?"

"NO! Of course not!"

"Aww, don't worry, love, my heart still belongs to you. It's okay to be jealous."

"I am NOT jealous!"

Draco raised his eyebrow, showing that he was not buying any of it.

"Fine! Go back to your blonde tart for all I care! You're so-ugh!" then she stormed away and left, leaving an amused Draco watching her retreating back.

* * *

Draco found Hermione a few minutes later sitting in a booth with Harry and Ron-they eventually returned for a rest. When Hermione saw him walking toward them, she stood up and headed to the bar.

"Aww, c'mon, Granger. Don't be like that." Draco said as he tried to talk to her.

"Don't talk to me." She said, still irritated at him. He pulled a bar stool beside her and faced the barman. "Two firewhiskeys."

Hermione looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He gave a bottle to her. "Cheers." He said, lifting the bottle to his lips.

"Go on, Granger. Drink up." Hermione shook her head. Draco chucked and motioned the bottle again.

"Come on, Granger. Don't be a kill joy."

Hermione glared at him for a while, debating whether to drink or not. She decided to do the former and felt the familiar sensation of fire going down her throat. Draco gave a satisfied smirk. "See? Not bad, huh?"

"I'm still mad at you."

"We'll see." Draco replied, as he asked for another bottle.

A few bottles later left Hermione feeling woozy. She looked at Draco beside her and noticed how good-looking he was.

Wait. What? Did she just tell herself that Draco was good-looking?

Maybe it was the alcohol, but she allowed herself to look at him again, and realized that he was, in fact, extremely good-looking. His good looks were ruined, however by his arrogant and egotistical attitude, although these days, she noticed, he had been less of the arrogant bastard they knew.

Draco caught her looking at him.

"What?"

"What what?"

"You were staring at me."

"NO I wasn't." She said defensively.

"Yes you were. Don't lie, Granger. It doesn't look good on you." He replied with a smirk.

"Whatever, Malfoy." She said, rolling her eyes and looking at the opposite direction, mentally whacking herself for the slip.

"It's okay, Granger. I know you couldn't resist me." Said a voice close to her ear. She turned her head to face him, ready to retort but was surprised to see his face only inches away from hers. They stared at each other for what seemed like eternity.

Until all hell broke loose.

One second they were staring at each other, and the next, they were kissing so passionately, with her back to the bar and his hands pulling her flush against his body. They were kissing so passionately, their tongues battling inside their mouths, both tasting the sweet and fiery taste of firewhiskey and passion. Hermione broke away, and Draco kissed her cheek, and her chin, and her neck. "Malfoy, not here." Hermione said. Draco nodded and, too impatient to walk up the stairs, apparated them to their room. Inside, he pinned her against the wall, ripping the blouse off her body, while she unzipped his pants. He shed the rest of her clothes and she did the same-their pieces of clothing strewn around the place- and his hands roamed all over her body, while kissing her everywhere. She wrapped her legs around his waist and, carrying her to the bed, took her there and then he thrust into her, and with every thrust, she moaned and cried out his name, digging her nails on his shoulder.

"Fuck, Hermione, you're so beautiful." Draco said in between kisses. Hermione did not manage to answer back because at that moment, she came.

They fucked until they were so sweaty and exhausted, and eventually fell asleep.

Hermione woke up to a throbbing headache and sore legs. She rolled on her back and realized she was naked. She quickly sat up-which was a mistake, her head hurt more- and looked around her. Clothes were strewn everywhere, the buttons in her blouse were ripped, and lastly- Draco was sleeping right next to her, his upper torso exposed while his lower half was covered by the sheets. Memories from the previous night flooded her mind and she groaned, remembering.

"Oh, shit."


	11. Chapter Ten

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed! Sorry if I'm updating a little slower these days, school is making me busy.

Going to watch HP in the weekend! So excited!

I do not own the Harry Potter universe.

* * *

Hermione knocked on Ginny's door. It was very early in the morning, so she did not bother to fix herself up.

The door opened, revealing a very sleepy Ginny. "Hermione? Why are you up so early? And why are you wearing Malfoy's shirt-oh!" Ginny stopped, seeing Hermione's state of dress-or undress, rather. After recovering from shock, a slow smirk appeared on Ginny's face. "Oh Hermione, you naughty, naughty girl."

"My blouse was destroyed, and Malfoy's shirt was the only thing I could wear." She ground out as Ginny led her into her room.

"So tell me, why are you wearing his shirt?"

"Oh, maybe I just wanted to." Hermione said sarcastically.

"Hermione, did you shag Malfoy?" Ginny squealed.

"Is it obvious?"

"Well, Malfoy seemed quite intent on helping you clean your teeth last night-if you get what I mean. How was it?"

"Ginny, I will not tell you anything." Hermione said, although, if she really had to answer, she would have said it was the best thing she has ever experienced in her life-and that was saying something.

"Fine, Hermione, be that way." Ginny pouted. "But where's Malfoy?"

"Sleeping."

Ginny gasped. "Oh Hermione, you left him alone! Go back! Go back now." Ginny said, pushing her out of the room.

"But-"

"Hermione, it's normal for a couple like you. He's your fiancé."

She glared at her and headed back to their room.

Entering, she found the bed empty. She wondered where he was, until she heard the shower from the bathroom. She then decided to wait until he came out, sitting on the bed.

A few minutes later, she heard the shower turn off, and the bathroom door opened. Draco Malfoy walked out of the bathroom with only a white towel wrapped around his waist, exposing his lean physique and his abs, while his other hand dried his hair with a smaller towel. She did not realize she was staring until he spoke up. "Take a picture, why don't you. That way it'll last longer and you could fantasize about me at night."

She glared at him. "Fuck you, Malfoy."

He smirked. "Oh, but you just did." Hermione rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at his direction. "You bloody well know what I mean."

He laughed. "I know, I know. But the shirt looks good on you, though. You should keep it."

She glared at him again. "Well, I didn't have a choice did I, considering the state of _my_ own shirt."

"Granger."

"What?"

"Are you still drunk?"

"No."

"So you're perfectly okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So did it ever cross your mind that you could just simply _Reparo_ it?"

Hermione gave him a blank look. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess my mind's all messed up because_ you_ shagged me last night."

"Oh I'm flattered, Granger, I didn't know my extremely good and irresistible looks could do that to a girl."

Hermione was about to retort, but he cut her off. "Look, let's talk about this like the sensible grown ups we both are, shall we?"

Hermione snorted. "You? Sensible grown up?"

"Granger." He said warningly.

"Okay, okay."

"So we were both drunk." Draco started, after a few seconds of complete silence.

"No we weren't. I put a sobering charm on the both of us before we kissed."

Draco looked at her with eyebrows raised. "So it wasn't the alcohol."

"No, it wasn't. It was just us."

"And that's alright with you?"

"Not really, but what can I do?"

"You won't kill me?"

"No, I was the one who cast the sobering charm on the both of us. Are _you_ gonna kill me for giving you no excuse that you actually shagged a muggleborn?"

"Granger, I'm done will all that muggleborn bullshit."

"Okay." She said.

Draco nodded. "This doesn't change anything, right?"

"No it doesn't." Hermione replied.

Deep inside, though, both of them knew that it had, in fact, changed everything.

Draco changed to clean clothes and Hermione took a bath. They cleaned the room and made the bed, and in no time, the room didn't look as if any…_activities_ happened the previous night. Neither knew where they stood right now, and an awkward silence filled the air. When both of them were done packing their things and ran out of excuses stall for time, both just awkwardly looked at each other.

"Look, let's just pretend nothing happened."

"Yeah, I think that's what's best."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Draco thought for a while. "You do realize that in less than a month, I'm going to have to marry you."

Hermione stood there shocked, forgetting that she did, in fact, have to marry Draco Malfoy in a few weeks. "Excuse me." Hermione mumbled as she walked out of the room, needing air.

* * *

They soon went back to Hogwarts and Dumbledore and Harry destroyed the Horcrux. Draco and Hermione were awkward around each other during the day.

Hermione felt as if just the day before, their wedding seemed to be so far away- but today, it was staring at her right in the face. She wasn't sure whether she should be sad or okay with it or depressed, but it seemed like there was really no way out. She really had to wed Draco, and that meant the change to her surname, her future, and her life. She used to imagine her future to be normal: normal work, going on a few dates every now and then, and then finally meeting the guy she loved and fall in love and be a wonderful wife and have a wonderful family. She wanted to lead a normal life, but how could she lead a normal life if she was married at the age of eighteen? Not to mention who she was marrying, which was another problem altogether. Yes, Draco Malfoy changed for the better and they were no longer enemies, but how could you live your entire life together with your ex-enemy? The man who used to call you Mudblood and who used to tease you and your peers? The man who was taught to hate you and vanquish your from the face of the Wizarding World?

Hermione sighed as she closed the book she was reading. She absentmindedly swiped away the hair falling to her face and stared blankly at the library walls. She tried to think of her future with Draco, but couldn't see herself with him. The future to her seemed so blurry, so unexpected and she did not like that one bit. She wanted everything to be planned, everything to be in order, she wanted to know what was next, and not just move forward blindly. Her whole life consisted of plans, and she liked it that way, thank you very much.

Harry found her a few minutes later, still staring blankly at the wall. He waved a hand in front of her face, and she was pulled back to reality.

"Harry, hi. I was just tired." Hermione said, looking up at Harry.

"Hey, Hermione. What were you thinking about?"

"The future, actually." She replied. "It's going to be so different now."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, I'm marrying Malfoy in three weeks!" Hermione said, exasperated. "it might be normal for you, but what about me, Harry?"

"Hermione, we've been through this. This is for the greater good. We're not yet-"

"Prepared for the war, I know. But still! I'm going to be Hermione _Malfoy_, did you realize that?"

Harry though for a while. "Not really, I just realized that now."

"See how hard this is for me?"

"Hermione, I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

"Why aren't you taking this seriously, Harry?"

"Because maybe it isn't as bad as you think it is, Hermione." Harry said quietly, shutting Hermione up. "Because maybe, one day, you'll actually be happy of the choice you've made. One day, you might actually learn how to love Malfoy-if you're not already. We all saw the spectacular show you guys did the night in the leaky Cauldron."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Hermione said quietly, blushing at the memory of that night.

"Look, I'm not trying to state anything, I just think you're making too big a deal about this marriage thing."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one getting married."

"Maybe, but I'm just saying, take a chance with him."

"Harry, this isn't a boyfriend-girlfriend thing. This isn't something you can just drop. When you're dating, you can break up anytime you want. In this pureblood marriage, you'll have to kill yourself or your husband. No chances."

"Hermione, Malfoy's changed. He isn't the person he used to be."

"So that automatically means he's the one for me? That he's my soul mate?"

"No, but you have your entire life to actually warm up to each other, right?"

Hermione groaned and buried her head in her hands. "I honestly thought you would be shouting at the whole world and actually do something to make this war end faster so that your bestfriend doesn't have to marry the git."

Harry shrugged. "I've learned to be more open-minded. I've warmed up to him. Accept things, you know?"

"Why don't you marry him then?"

"Sure, I'd love to." He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"I have warmed up to him, Harry, I just don't know if I could live my entire life with him."

"You're not going to be stuck at the hip, you know. You could be apart and do things apart from each other."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "So there really is no way out of this."

"Sorry, Hermione, but there's none. If there was, would I be telling you this crap?"

"Guess not." She said with a chuckle.

* * *

A week has passed and Draco and Hermione were summoned to the Headmaster's office.

"Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy." Dumbledore greeted.

Draco and Hermione nodded. "Good morning, headmaster."

"Please, take a seat." He said, motioning to the two chairs near his desk.

Once they were seated, Dumbledore started speaking again.

"So you know that your wedding will be in two weeks." Draco and Hermione nodded. Hermione gulped.

"Are you planning on a grand celebration?"

Both shook their heads. "So what do you plan?"

Draco and Hermione uncertainly looked at each other. "Well, professor, we haven't talked about it yet." Hermione replied.

"Is it necessary that everyone in the Wizarding World needs to know?" Draco asked.

"Not necessarily, Mister Malfoy." Dumbledore addressed Draco's question. "Voldemort has not said anything about it. If you want, you can just have a simple ceremony, with hand picked witnesses and the Minister to preside the wedding."

"I think that would be best." Hermione said and Draco agreed.

"Very well then, I will have it arranged. Give the list of the people you want there. We will have the ceremony here in Hogwarts. And Mister Malfoy, I suggest you include Severus so that the Death Eaters won't be suspicious." Draco nodded and they both got up.

"Very well, off you go."

And Draco and Hermione left the room.

* * *

Draco and Hermione looked at each other. "Okay, so we need to decide who will be there." Hermione started.

Draco nodded and took out a blank piece of parchment and a quill from his bag.

"Who do you want to be there?" he asked.

"Harry, Ron and Ginny, of course."

"My mother, Severus, Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall."

"My parents."

"Moody."

"The Weasleys." Draco gave Hermione a weird look. "All of them?"

"Yes, why not?"

"It's-never mind." He said, and scribbled down their names.

"They're my second family, you know." Hermione explained.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. That's it, then?"

"Yes, I suppose." She leaned closer to him to see the names listed on parchment- he could smell the faint smell of vanilla and books on her.

"Seventeen people, then?"

"Yeah." Draco said, and Hermione turned to face him. Their faces were only inches away from each other, and both of them remembered the night at the leaky. Hermione's mind was going overdrive while her stomach was doing somersaults.

Their heads were slowly moving closer towards each other.

Hermione suddenly stopped, making him stop too. He looked into her eyes, trying to read what was on her mind. She gave him a small smile, and he smiled back at her, understanding seen in his eyes. They moved away from each other and Hermione turned and walked away, leaving Draco to watch her retreating back.

_She was not yet ready.

* * *

_

Please Review and tell me what you think! reviews make my day! thanks!


	12. Chapter Eleven

A/N: Here it is! BTW, I've just watched HP7 yesterday, and I can't wait till part two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. :D

* * *

Draco and Hermione met up a few days later, continuing with their search for a way to destroy Nangini. Hermione's heart was beating fast as she waited fro Draco in the library. After their encounter outside the Headmaster's office, she mentally beat herself up. Why didn't she let him kiss her? Why did she react like that? She sighed, forcing the thoughts of the encounter out of her head. She heard the library door open and looked up to find Draco walking towards their table. Again, her heart started beating wildly, she was afraid it might burst. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

_Oh this is going to be sooo awkward._

Draco finally reached the table and sat down across her. He gave a smile, and she smiled back.

"So, what do you have for today?"

Hermione sighed, relieved that he did not bring the subject up. They both decided inside themselves to forget the encounter and act as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing, Nothing at all. We've gone through everything and there is no possible way we could destroy Nangini."

He momentarily closed his eyes and sighed. "We're doomed." And she knew that they would be doomed in more reasons than one.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Draco looked closely at her. "How are you?"

Surprised by his question, she stared at him. Thinking about how she was brought a frown to her face. "Not really good, actually."

"Why?"

"Well, this Horcrux thing, for one, and, well…"

"The fact that you're going to marry me." He supplied, with a hint of hurt in his voice.

"Well, that. Yeah."

Draco nodded and she asked him his question. "How are _you_?"

"Fairly okay, although I'm worried about my mother and the war. No surprise there."

Hermione inclined her head slightly. "I don't hear you moping around because you're going to marry a muggleborn."

He shrugged. "I guess there is no choice. I won't be moping around for something that we can't avoid. You just have to accept things, you know?"

Hermione nodded, thinking deeply. "If you had a choice, though?"

"Of course, I would have wanted something different."

Hermione nodded and a part of her was relieved that he said that. Another part, however, was a bit stumped that he would have wanted something different.

"Granger."

"What?"

"Come with me to our last Hogsmeade trip on Saturday, the last week of our school, right after our Quidditch match with the Gryffindors."

Hermione was surprised with his sudden invitation, her heart going overdrive once again. "Why?"

"Why _not_?" he challenged.

"Give me a good reason to say yes, then."

"I'll let you choose where to go, when to leave. It's just a time for us to get to know each other more over a mug of butterbeer or something."

Hermione thought for a while. "Yeah, I guess that'll be okay." She finally said.

Draco's face broke out into a grin. "That's settled, then."

* * *

The Quidditch game was fast, with Harry catching the snitch before Draco did. It was a close fight, though, and the scores were both low because both teams played excellently, and Harry and Draco were head to head in catching the snitch. Draco sadly walked back to the lockers, saying sorry to his other team mates for not catching the snitch.

"That's alright, Malfoy. At least we placed second." His team mates would say, and he would be okay for a while, until he remembered that this was his last match for his entire stay at Hogwarts, and not once did he get to catch the snitch before Harry did. Harry always got the snitch, of course, except for the time when he fainted from the dementors, but that was understandable. He comforted himself with the fact that he always caught the snitch during the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw matches.

Nearing the lockers, he saw Hermione walking up to him and stopped to allow her to catch up.

"Hey Malfoy." Hermione said as she reached him.

"Granger." He said, acknowledging her with a nod and a quick smile.

Hermione smiled, and her heart started beating faster at the sight of him all sweaty, with his windswept hair and his broom hanging on his shoulder. He looked so handsome, although she swore to herself not to think about it.

"Where do I meet you?"

Draco looked blankly at her, confused at first at what she was saying, until he remembered. "Oh yeah!" He said, slapping his forehead. "Forgive me if I forgot for a second there- my mind was messed up- I could meet you by the front doors in," He checked his watch. "One hour?"

Hermione nodded. "Okay, one hour's great. Congratulations, by the way." She said, inclining her head.

"Yeah, thanks." He replied, and she turned around and walked away.

He was still staring at her when she turned around to face him a couple of yards away, and she saw him looking. She smiled-the kind of smile that someone wore when he or she was about to laugh- and he grinned. She laughed and bit her lip, and Draco's smile grew bigger. _She's so beautiful._

She finally gave a small wave and walked away.

Draco headed to his room, took a shower and got dressed for his 'date' with Hermione. Seeing her lifted his spirits a bit, and he decided to forget their loss against Gryffindor.

He met Hermione by the front doors of the school. He smiled as he reached her, and Hermione felt her heart beat faster _again _at the sight of him, now freshly cleaned. He was wearing casual pants and a black button-up shirt rolled up to his elbows. Hermione, on the other hand, was wearing a purple blouse and a skirt. Her hair was tied in a loose bun

"You ready to go, then?" Draco asked, offering his arm for her to take. Hermione gladly took it and said yes.

"Where do you want to go first?" Draco asked as they reached Hogsmeade

"Well, seeing as it is lunchtime, we could eat somewhere."

Draco nodded and led her to a small restaurant not far from the Three Broomsticks.

They got settled and ordered their meals.

"So, how did Potter and Weasley take it?"

"Take what?"

"You, me, Hogsmeade."

"Oh, they took it quite well."

Draco nodded. "Two more weeks, huh?"

She nodded too. "Yeah. Your mother's going to take me wedding dress shopping tomorrow, actually."

Draco's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Yes, although I have no idea where we're going."

"Good luck, then. I've been with my mother shopping before, and I can't tell you it's a pleasant one." Hermione chuckled. "It can't be that bad."

"I suppose she'll go easy on you, and it's you she'll be shopping for, so I don't think it will be as bad as her shopping trips with me."

Hermione smiled. "I like your mother very much. I was able to talk to her a few times. "

"Yes, she is something." Draco replied, as he reminisced the many times he was with his mother.

Their food came soon after that, and they had a pleasant conversation. It was like those times they spent together at the library, talking and debating about different things.

Soon, they finished eating and went outside. They roamed around for quite a while, and neither cared if other students saw them together. They were already starting to hear students whispering behind their backs, but they figured-hey, it's almost the end of the school year. Let anybody think what they want to think.

It was nearly dark, and they both decided to head back to the castle. Back at the front doors, they both faced each other.

"So, I had an extremely good time today with you, Malfoy." Hermione started smiling.

"So did I, Granger."

"Thanks for today."

She said softly, and she stepped closer to Draco. When she was face to face with him, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Goodnight." She whispered, as she moved away from him.

He smiled-the smile he only reserved for her- "Goodnight, Granger."

She bit her bottom lip again, smiling, and walked back to her dorms.

* * *

The next day, Hermione was picked up by Narcissa in the headmaster's office. They used the Floo to get to Diagon alley.

"Hello, dear." Narcissa greeted as she hugged Hermione.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Oh please, call me Narcissa, Hermione." Hermione nodded slowly and they arrived at an expensive-looking shop. The dresses on display by the shop window made Hermione take in a deep breath-the clothes were so beautiful, and she was sure they were really expensive.

"I can't believe you and Draco actually agreed on having a small wedding only! Ever since I became a mother, I have always imagined my son's wedding to be extravagant and beautiful." Narcissa said, as they looked around for dresses. "But given the circumstances, I suppose it is the best for you to have only a few guests. I could reserve the extravagant wedding for your children."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh no, Narcissa, we won't-"

"Have children? I highly doubt that." Narcissa said with raised eyebrows. The thought of having children with Draco made Hermione turn red. Narcissa saw this and smiled.

"Hermione, dear, maybe not yet now, but in a few years, when the both of you have finally settled, I'm sure it will pass your mind." Narcissa continued. "I know the feeling of being in an arranged marriage, although under different circumstances, of course. Lucius and I were arranged, but eventually, we have learned to love each other. It might seem odd -what with the things he has done in the past, and even now- but I still love him despite all of it. And I'm completely heart broken by the path he has took," At this, she started tearing up "but I still love him. It's crazy, I think, but that's love. Love is about making sacrifices, Hermione."

Hermione's heart broke for Narcissa, imagining what she felt- the love of her life, destroying himself and yet she never gave up on him- and she saw how strong and loving Narcissa was. Hermione hugged her, and Narcissa cried softly on her shoulder. A few minutes later, Narcissa stopped crying and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "Oh, silly me, crying, when what we have to do is find you a wedding dress." She smiled, and straightened up.

"Narcissa, are you sure? We can do this someday else."

"No, Hermione. We have to do this now. Your wedding day will be in two weeks, and you simply must get started with the preparations! If it were up to me, I would, of course, have started preparing three months from the wedding, but since it is only a small ceremony and short notice, we have only a few days to get everything settled. We must find you a beautiful dress, Hermione- one that will make my son fall head over heels for you!" Narcissa promised, and, as if on cue, a saleslady appeared out of the stockroom.

"Good morning, Mrs. Malfoy, it's lovely to see you." The saleslady greeted.

Narcissa gave her a smile. "Hello, Beatrice, this is Hermione Granger and she needs a wedding dress. A lovely one."

Beatrice smiled at Hermione. "Good morning, Ms. Granger." She said, with a strong French accent. "Let's start- shall we?" she called her two assistants.

And with that, she led them to a room full of dresses and cloth.

"What color is the gown, Mademoiselle?"

"White would be preferred. I want something simple, not extravagant, but something that will make her beautiful- shows all her good features and hug the right curves." Narcissa instructed. Hermione stood there, not saying anything. She was slightly shocked that Narcissa wanted something simple, but was relieved because what Narcissa instructed was exactly what she wanted.

"There are a few dresses here, and you could try them on. We could just do the proper adjustments and changes to the original one." Beatrice said as she led Hermione into the fitting room. She handed Hermione a white dress, which Hermione tried out. She showed it to Narcissa, but Narcissa was not impressed. "It's way too plain. It just looks like a piece of cloth wrapped around you." And with that, Hermione tries on another one-and another one, and another one. All of them, Narcissa was not satisfied.

"It's horrible."

"Is that even a dress? It's ghastly!"

"What on Earth is that? You look like a cake!"

"Beatrice, look at her in that dress. She looks like a candle stick."

"No, that simply won't do."

Narcissa's spew of comments continued and soon, there were no more white dresses left.

"Narcissa, there aren't any white dresses anymore." Hermione said.

Narcissa sighed and looked around. "Beatrice, find me dresses that are not completely white- with a gold lining, a blue ribbon, red design, anything white with a bit of color. Hermione's color simply won't do with just white." And Beatrice followed her instructions, arriving again with a giant pile of dresses. Hermione looked at it warily. "I'm supposed to try on all of those?"

"Hermione, dear, this is for _you_, you have to be absolutely perfect for your wedding! A little more and I promise we will end up with something."

Hermione mentally rolled her eyes and was starting to believe what Draco told her about shopping trips with his mother. She then, however, told herself that it was for her, and she wanted to at least look pretty for her wedding day. So, summoning up her patience, she prepared herself with another round of getting in and out of dresses. She blindly picked one out from the giant pile and put it on, not really looking at herself in the mirror. She walked out of the fitting room and was greeted with a deafening silence.

Narcissa and Beatrice were staring at her with wide eyes. "Hermione, we have found it." Narcissa said after a few minutes of silence. "Hermione! Oh my, it's absolutely perfect!" Narcissa squealed. Hermione turned around and looked at herself in the mirror, and even she was left speechless. She had to admit, she was _beautiful_.

The dress was a strapless dress, mostly white except for the emerald green lining at the top of the dress and at the train. The dress was floor length, hugging her upper torso and eventually flowing outward. The dress dropped down her mid back, and there were beads dotting down the back. It was a simple dress, but it wasn't plain and boring. Narcissa looked at her appreciatively. "Draco's going to love this, especially the color. Green looks beautiful on you, Hermione, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Slytherin." Narcissa joked.

Hermione smiled at her and looked at herself in the mirror again. She couldn't help but smile at her reflection.

"Oh! And I have the perfect necklace for you, dear." Narcissa supplied.

"Oh no, Narcissa, you really shouldn't-'

"I'm not hearing any of it, Hermione." Narcissa said with a soft smile, and Hermione couldn't help but love her future mother-in-law. "Thank you, Narcissa, really."

"No worry dear. Now why don't you take the dress off while I pay for it."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "What? NO! Narcissa, really, this is going too far!"

"Hermione, let me pay for this." Narcissa said, again, in her soft, motherly voice. Hermione reluctantly nodded. "Although I _will_ pay for the shoes." She said, and Narcissa, laughing, nodded.

Hermione went back inside the fitting room and dressed back to her casual wear. They eventually left the shop, thanking Beatrice for her assistance. They then bought her shoes- silver strappy heels- and ate lunch. Hermione then decided to herself that next weekend, the weekend before their wedding, she would introduce Malfoy to her parents.

Arriving back at Hogwarts, Hermione turned to face Narcissa.

"Narcissa, thank you so much for everything." Hermione said, hugging the older lady.

"Don't mention it." She replied, smiling. "Now, let me take these," she took the bag of the dress and shoes from Hermione "and I'll have this washed and pressed. Besides, Draco shouldn't see this."

With their goodbyes being said, Narcissa flooed back to the Manor while Hermione set off to look for Draco.

* * *

Please tell me what you think! Please review! And please check out my other stories too :D thanks thanks!


	13. Chapter Twelve

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews!

Disclaimer: Don't own HP

* * *

Hermione found Draco on his way to the Slytherin common rooms. It was a few minutes after dinner, and all the students were already inside their dorms, preparing for their last week in school.

"Malfoy!" She called out, running after Draco. Draco turned around and smirked.

"Granger. What's up? You just came from shopping with my mom, I assume?"

"Yeah."

"How was it? Did you find a dress?"

"Yeah, I did."

"How does it look like?"

"As if I'm telling you, Malfoy. You'll have to wait and see." She said, giving him a smirk worthy of a Slytherin.

He raised his eyebrows. "Okay, little miss I-Won't-Show-You-My-Dress, did you need anything?"

"Nothing, really. I just had an idea."

"And what's that?" he asked, his head inclined to the side.

"I should let you meet my parents." She saw him pale. "What?"

"Meet my parents. I have, after all, already met your mom." She said, shrugging.

He reluctantly nodded. "Although this isn't like a formal gathering of some sort, right? Like, asking for your hand and all?"

Hermione laughed at the image. "No, no. My parents know about me marrying you. It's just a small get together so you can get to know each other."

"Okay. I could go. When?"

Hermione thought for a while. "So our school ends on Thursday, although the Order is going to stay here 'till the wedding. We could do it on Friday, Maybe?" She asked.

"Friday's great." He replied, nodding. "Where?"

"Our house, so no one could really see us. Probably for lunch." Draco nodded. "Okay."

"Okay."

They just looked at each other for a few minutes.

"So…that's settled then."

"Yeah."

"I'll head off, then." Hermione said, slowly.

"Goodnight, Granger."

"Night, Malfoy."

And with that, they both went on their separate ways.

* * *

The last week of their schooling went by quickly. They had their House Cup awarding, of course, with Gryffindor being the first and Slytherin winning second. The last day was full of mixed emotions, as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all reminisced their time spent in the school. Their last day was spent by the lake, after they all finished packing their bags.

"I can't believe you three aren't going to be here anymore next year." Ginny said sorrowfully.

"It's okay, Gin. You have a full year ahead of you, what with you being sure of being Quidditch captain next year." Harry said.

"What are your plans for this week?" Ron asked.

"I'm going home first, to get some stuff for the summer." Hermione replied. "Malfoy and I will leave tomorrow."

"Malfoy?" The three asked.

"Yeah, I figured he had to get introduced to my parents. He is going to be my husband, anyway." Hermione said. The three others nodded.

McGonagall called them back inside to say goodbye to the rest of their friends who were leaving for the Hogwarts express. There were lots of hugging and tears, exchanging of addresses and last wishes. Soon, everyone left and the Order members were the only ones left in the castle.

* * *

Hermione met Draco at the Headmaster's office, where they were to Floo to Diagon Alley and head to muggle London.

Honestly, Draco was quite nervous, not only because he was going to visit Muggle London for the first time, but also because he was going to meet Hermione's parents.

"Hello, Malfoy." Hermione greeted as they both met up in front of the fireplace.

"Hey, Granger."

"You ready?"

"Yeah." He said, although the look of nervousness etched across his face. Hermione laughed. "Relax, Malfoy. It's just my parents."

"_Just?"_ he mumbled as he stepped into the fireplace.

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, and Hermione led him out to the Muggle part. He visibly gulped. Hermione laughed at him and took his hand.

"I'm here, Malfoy. Just hold on to me and you'll be fine."

She felt him grip tighter to her as they crossed the street, jumping into a bus. They found free seats, and they sat down. Draco still had not let her hand go, and Hermione just let it stay there. A woman sitting in the seat across them smiled at them. "Ah, young love." And Hermione uncomfortably smiled at her.

They finally reached Hermione's house.

Draco took a deep breath. "This is it?"

"Yeah. It's not as big as your Manor, of course,"

"Yeah, no, I didn't mean it in a bad way, you know. It was just like 'this is it' this is the house, you know what I mean?" he was rambling, and Hermione found this incredibly cute.

"Malfoy, relax, I know what you mean. Let's not just stand here, you know." She said as she pulled him to the door. She opened it.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" She shouted.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Said a woman who emerged from what looked like the kitchen. Hermione came over to her and hugged her. "Hey mom."

Mrs. Granger kissed her daughter at the check and noticed Draco standing there. "So this must be the Malfoy boy you were talking about?"

"What Malfoy boy?" Came a man's voice. It was Hermione's father.

"Mom, Dad, meet Draco. Draco, this is my mom, Jane, and my dad, Steve."

Draco shook their hands politely, smiling slightly. It unnerved him how Hermione looked so much like her mother.

"So you're marrying my Hermione, huh?" Steve asked.

Draco nodded. "Although, under different circumstances, of course."

"Of course." Steve replied.

Jane led them to the sitting room, where she prepared drinks for them. Hermione excused herself, going up to pack her bags for her stay at Grimmauld Place.

"So, Draco." Jane started. "Tell us about yourself."

Draco thought for a while what he was to say, and decided to be honest to them

"I was a Death Eater, actually. My father forced me to take the Dark Mark, but I changed sides, together with my mother."

"Yes, we have heard from Hermione a lot about you, especially you turning sides."

"Hermione has also told us about the marriage."

"Right, about that," Draco started, "I deeply apologize for her being pulled into that."

"That's alright, son. She knew what she was getting into from the start. And we trust her with our lives." Steve said, and Draco relaxed, relieved that they didn't take it the bad way.

"Besides, you seem like a nice lad."

"Far from it, actually."

"Oh, don't be too hard on yourself, Draco." Jane Granger said. "As we said earlier, Hermione has told us a lot about you. The fact that you turned against all you have been taught to believe in just proves how good a man you are."

Their views of him shocked Draco. "Thank you. And thank you also for understanding."

They both smiled at him, and Hermione finally came back down. Draco and Hermione spent their lunch with them, talking about different things-ranging from muggle and Wizarding things to sports, to books. They had many differences, but Draco and the Grangers got along so well, as if they were a family already.

Jane and Hermione both took out the plates, leaving Draco and Steve talking at the dining table. In the kitchen, Jane spoke up: "He's nice, that Draco. Good-looking and polite too."

"Yeah, he is." Hermione replied.

"Do you have your wedding dress yet?"

"Yes, his mother and I went dress shopping yesterday."

Jane nodded. "I'll be there when you wear it, okay?"

"Of course, mum."

It was mid afternoon when Draco and Hermione decided to leave already.

"We'll see you at the wedding, dear."

"Yeah, mom, bye!" Hermione said, kissing her parents goodbye. Draco shook their hands again, and both headed back to Hogwarts.

* * *

They were greeted by Dumbledore and Moody.

"Granger, Malfoy. Call Potter and the two Weasleys, then get back here." Moody instructed them.

Draco and Hermione did as they were told, finding Harry, Ginny, and Ron in the Great Hall.

"Potter, Weasley, Weasley. Moody and Dumbledore need us. Headmaster's office. Now." Draco called out ot them from the entrance. They immediately stood up and followed to two to Dumbledore's office.

Arriving there, Moody told them to sit.

"Now, we are nearly prepared to defeat Voldemort. There will be spy missions sent out these two or three weeks, spying on the other Death Eaters. We need to know what they are doing right now, which Death Eaters always stick close to Voldemort, which Death Eaters are sent to kill, etc.

"Potter, Boy Weasley, and Malfoy, you'll be going on missions. Granger, you'll be making healing potions, just in case one of us gets injured. Girl Weasley, your mother wants you back at the Burrow."

Ginny looked stumped, the three boys looked excited, and Hermione looked annoyed.

"Miss Granger, start with simple potions, just for minor injuries. I suggest you start now, brewing takes quite long. You will find the ingredients in Snape's stores. Severus himself cannot help because he is busy with spy duties. She- Weasley, got to your dorms and get your bag. Your mother was especially furious when she did not see you at the train yesterday. Potter, Malfoy, Weasley, stay. I need to orient you with the missions." They all nodded, Hermione and Ginny sadly went out of the headmaster's office to do their work.

Hermione angrily went down to the Dungeons to prepare the potions ingredients.

_Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean that I can't join them in the missions! I do all the boring things, while they are out there, in all the action!_

She gathered all the ingredients, opened up a Potions book and turned it to the page for Healing potions.

_Yes, books and research are things I'm good at, but soon, I'll be in the war too, and how could I defend myself if I don't have any experience!_

_That's just it, Hermione. You _don't _have experience, therefore Moody does not want you to ruin everything, _Said a voice inside her.

_But still! What, do I just stay inside the castle during the actual war while my friends are all risking their lives?_

Hermione was chopping a piece of radish furiously and thinking to herself, until she felt a body press against her back and a strong hand cover hers- the one which was holding the knife- stopping her furious chopping.

A voice _very_ close to her ear spoke, "Careful, Granger, with the mad speed you're going, you might get everything mixed up."

She looked to her right and saw Draco smirking at her. "Hi." She said, grumpily.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Well, you, Harry, and Ron get to go out on missions while I'm stuck here, all alone, making healing potions!"

"Here, let me help." He said, and both arms were by her side- one still covering her hand, and the other lying next to hers, which was holding the chopping board. He started guiding her hand to do slow, rhythmical movements, and soon, she found herself relaxing.

"The missions aren't that exciting, you know. Basically, all we have to do is stay undercover and watch the Death Eaters. No action, no fight."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just sit there for hours, watch and listen to Death Eaters, and sometimes, we have to witness them killing other people."

Hermione gasped. "Really? Why can't you just kill them?"

"Because the other Death Esters and Voldemort will wonder where they've gone, and they'll know we're up to something."

"Can you restrain yourselves from cursing them, though?"

Draco chuckled. "I hope so."

Soon, they were done chopping, and Hermione threw them in the cauldron. "Thank you." She said, facing him.

"No problem."

"When are you leaving?"

"We'll be going on spy missions twice a week. The other Aurors will cover the rest of the days. Our first spy mission is tomorrow."

Hermione nodded. "Be safe, okay?"

He smirked. "I will. After all, I have my future wife waiting for me back here."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, you wouldn't want her waiting too long. I heard she isn't a very patient person."

"Yeah. She's quite stubborn, too."

"Am not!"

"Is too."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO."

"Yes."

"N-"

Hermione wasn't able to complete what she said though, because Draco swooped down and kissed her. Recovering from shock, Hermione responded to the kiss. It was like the kiss at the Leaky Cauldron, a battle of lips and tongues, with Draco digging his hands to her hair, and Hermione twining her fingers on Draco's nape. Needing air, both pulled back, resting their heads on each other's foreheads.

"Is too." Draco said.

Hermione chuckled. "Okay, I _could_ be stubborn sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Draco asked, pulling his head back to look at her with a bewildered expression. "More like all the time!"

Hermione laughed and slapped him playfully in the chest. "Shut up."

He smiled down at her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I have to go get ready for tomorrow now."

Hermione pouted. "Okay. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Not when we leave, but when we come back in the evening, you will."

"Okay. Be safe, okay?"

"I will."

And with that, he left Hermione in the Potions room as he headed for the Slytherin Common rooms.

* * *

A/N: Please review! thanks :D


	14. Chapter Thirteen

I do not own Harry Potter

* * *

Draco, Harry, and Ron left early the next day and arrived late afternoon. They did not discover or hear any useful information from the Death Eaters.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked Harry and Ron as they sat down beside her in the Great Hall. Since there were no more students, they were all sitting in only one table.

"Boring. Nothing exciting happened." Ron said, grabbing a sandwich and stuffed his mouth right away.

"Where's Malfoy?" Hermione asked, looking around.

"Probably changing or something." Harry replied. "Ginny went home already?"

"Yeah, she did, at about lunch time."

Draco finally emerged. Harry called him to sit with them. "Hey." He said, sitting down. Hermione gave him a quick smile.

"So, it's the big day in what- seven days?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, on Saturday." Hermione answered.

"You guys ready?"

Draco shrugged, and Hermione asked. "What's there to get ready for?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the place and the food and the chairs?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"There will be none of that, of course." Draco said.

"What, no food?"

"We'll eat here in the Great Hall."

"Really?"

"Yes, Ron. This isn't exactly a wedding _wedding_, you know. There won't be a reception. There will be the rites, of course, and we'll eat here. Nothing big, although I reckon Dumbledore will ask the elves to make something special for that night." Hermione said, and Draco nodded along.

"It's just a small gathering- no more than twenty people are 'invited.'"

"Only fifteen, actually. Not counting the Minister."

"But Voldemort won't be there, right?" Ron asked jokingly. Draco decided to trick him, so he put up a serious face. Ron saw his face and he paled. "What, he's going to be there?"

Draco shrugged. "Of course. After all, he was the one who wanted me to marry Granger."

Harry and Ron's eyes were wide, and Hermione was trying hard not to laugh. "Malfoy, stop it."

"Aw, you're no fun, Granger." Draco said, smirking at the other two who realized that he was just tricking him.

"You nearly got me there, Malfoy." Ron said, playfully punching Draco's shoulder.

"But do you have the best man and the bridesmaids?" Harry asked.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other. "I did not think of that."

"Neither did I."

"We never really prepared, did we?" Draco asked, amused.

"No, and I suggest we start now- we've only got seven days." Hermione replied, a laugh heard in her voice.

Harry and Ron regarded this conversation and decided to leave the two alone. "We'll leave you to the wedding crap, then." Ron said, getting up.

"It's not _wedding crap_, Ron." Hermione said.

"Whatever, if you need us, we'll be in the common room." And with that, the two boys left the Hall.

"So, where do we start?"

"Let's start with the things that are actually going to happen. Hell, we don't even know the date and time of the wedding!"

And, for the rest of the afternoon, Draco and Hermione planned their wedding.

"We could also ask help from our mothers, you know." Draco said, once they were finished with the general plans.

"Yeah. I'll talk to them within the week and I'll take care of the other preparations. You just make sure that you don't accidentally fall and hit your head and die before Saturday, and all will be well." Hermione said.

"Yeah. Don't overwork yourself, Granger. I don't want my future wife to be all stressed and tired at the wedding." Draco countered. Hermione smiled and they both went on to their separate ways.

* * *

During the night, Hermione couldn't sleep, so she decided to go up to the Astronomy Tower to think.

They seemed so nonchalant about the whole wedding thing. Yes, she already accepted it, but it didn't quite sink into her yet that her whole life would be changed on Saturday. She had to make plans with Draco all the time, and they had to plan their future together. They had to live together, and they had to decide on a house to live in once the War was over. Imagining herself waking up every morning beside Draco made her think about their future relationship. Were they going to be a happy couple? She didn't even know if she knew who the real Draco Malfoy was. Would they always end up fighting? Or worse, would they even last until the end of the War- or will one of them die?

Hermione closed her eyes. A few days ago, she felt like the wedding was so far away, but now, they were so close to it. Now was the time to go on Woman mode, doing the wedding preparations and everything else. She told herself that she had to be fully into the whole wedding thing, and take it seriously. She reminded herself to be happy, because Draco is a good man, and he seemed like the person who took care of the ones they love. Question is- does he love her? Probably not. Does _she_ love _him_? No. _Not yet_. It was too soon to love Draco Malfoy. Yes, it had been years since they have known each other, and now, they were comfortable around each other, but love didn't seem to be present yet. Maybe, in their later years, they would eventually fall in love. Hermione could see herself getting there already. She was really close to loving him.

* * *

The next few days, she put all her effort into the Wedding. Yes, the wedding was going to be small, but that didn't mean they shouldn't do anything at all. She got help from Narcissa, Molly, her mother, and Ginny. They looked for a good location in the school grounds, and they found the perfect spot- near a tree overlooking the Lake. Draco, Harry, and Ron went on another mission, but, like the first one, it was uneventful. Draco also helped, but would usually get bored, so he would instead play Quidditch with Harry and Ron. They were, however, going to celebrate Draco's Bachelor party a day before the wedding in Hogsmeade.

Hermione and Draco also decided where they would stay after the wedding.

"My room?" Draco suggested. "Besides, I'm all alone in the Slytherin dorms."

"Okay…" Hermione said slowly. "When we're in Grimmauld? And what about after the war? Where then?"

"Granger," Draco started, holding her by the shoulders. "We will find a place, or a house, but right now, we have to focus on the war. Right after it, though, I promise, we'll talk about that." Hermione nodded. "Okay."

So it was decided, they their 'honeymoon' would be in the Slytherin common room. Hermione was still getting used to the fact that she and Draco were going to be sharing a room from then on.

The day before the Wedding, all the men went over to The Three Broomsticks to celebrate Draco's bachelor party. They had drinks and they partied until the early morning hours. Hermione was with Ginny.

"Gin, I can't believe it's tomorrow already." Hermione said.

"Are you excited?"

"Yes, no, maybe. I really don't know what to feel right now!"

"Hermione, relax."

"Ginny, did you ever realize that I could never have a normal life anymore?"

"I know, honey." Ginny replied, stroking Hermione's hair. "But maybe it _will_ be normal. People eventually marry- you're just ahead of all of us."

"But Ginny, there won't be a sweet proposal, there won't be 100 guests, and there won't be a grand reception. I won't feel the surprise of him asking me to be his wife."

"Hermione, I've never knew you for a romantic." Ginny jokingly said. Hermione shrugged, smiling.

"So you really don't want to do this?" Ginny asked after a while.

"No- I do, but I wished it was different."

Ginny nodded in understanding. "Do you love him yet?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I'm almost there- I'm falling."

The day of the Wedding came. Since the wedding was going to take place in the afternoon, the morning was spent doing the last preparations. The men arranged the chairs, while Molly, Narcissa, and Jane arranged the flowers and everything else. Even the Elves were down in the kitchens, preparing the cake. Hermione was in the Gryffindor common rooms with Ginny. Draco decided to visit her and was about to blurt the password (he knows, he's been there a couple of times) when Ginny stopped him.

"And where are you going, ferret?"

"To Granger, Weaselette."

"You can't, sorry." Ginny said with a sweet smile.

"And why not?" He replied, his eyebrows raised.

"Malfoy, aren't you a pureblood? Surely you remember the wedding etiquettes- number 25 states that the groom is not allowed to see the bride at least 4 hours before the wedding."

Draco regarded her with an amused expression. "You made that up, didn't you? And it's not yet 4 hours."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Maybe the number, but the statement is true! You don't know?"

"Of course I do, what do you think of me? Although, this isn't actually a wedding _wedding_, you know."

"But still, you can't see her and I'm not letting you. What do you want to know, anyway?"

"I just wanted to know how she's doing."

"She's fine, she's fine. Now go away and play with Harry and Ron or something." Ginny instructed, pushing Draco away from the portrait of the Fat lady.

"Fine, fine, I'm going, I'm going."

Ginny went inside. Hermione looked up.

"Who was that?"

"Malfoy." Ginny replied, sitting in an armchair and grabbing a book.

Hermione immediately perked up. "Malfoy? Where?" And she stood up and headed towards the door.

"Oh no no no you don't." Ginny said, rushing to Hermione and pushing her back to the sofa. "Seriously, what is it with you two? It's as if you haven't seen each other for ten years!"

"I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Still, that doesn't mean you can see him now. Rule states that the groom isn't allowed to see the bride at least 4 hours before the wedding."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This isn't a wedding _wedding_, Ginny."

Ginny gave her a weird look. "What _is_ it with you two? Malfoy said the same thing awhile ago."

"And he's right. So let me see him."

"Why? What do you want to know, anyway?"

"I just wanted to know how he's doing."

Ginny's face was now so amused, Hermione found it quite scary. "Malfoy said the exact same thing- except he said _she_. But he looks like he's doing just _great_."

Hermione nodded and headed back to her chair. "Okay, I guess that's alright. How many more hours?"

Ginny looked at her watch. "Five hours before 5:00. Let's eat, I'm hungry."

Hermione made to stand but was held down by Ginny. "NO, you stay here while I go down and get you food. You might see Malfoy."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Ginny."

Finally, it was three hours before the Wedding and Hermione started getting ready. The three mothers assisted her with the make up and the hair. Her mother became quite emotional in the middle, and Narcissa gave her the promised emerald necklace. Her mother gave her matching earrings and a bracelet. Since Ginny was going to be the bridesmaid (she and Hermione went back to Beatrice's shop to get Ginny a dress), she also got ready. Hermione's stomach was full of fluttering butterflies the entire time, and also became a bit emotional.

"Don't cry, dear. You'll ruin your entire make up." Her mother said.

"Mum, I'm scared."

"Honey, don't be. You know that all of us will be with you and love you." Her mother said, kissing the top of her head.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath.

It was time.

And, wearing her beautiful wedding gown, she left the room and headed outside.

* * *

A/N: So the wedding's coming up! Thanks for all the reviews and stuff :D


	15. Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Here's the much- awaited wedding! Hope you all like it

BTW, someone said I misspelled Nagini. Sorry 'bout that.

I don't own HP

* * *

Draco Malfoy stared at Hermione Granger as she slowly walked down the short aisle. The simple dress she wore wasn't extravagant, but elegant and beautiful on her. It hugged the right curves, and the way it flowed out made her look tall. She wore no veil, but she held a bouquet of flowers in her hands. Her hair fell into soft waves down her back, with a few clips adorning the sides of her head. She was the epitome of an angel, Draco thought, as she smiled slightly at him.

As she reached the altar, Mr. Granger gave her hand to Draco, who then leaned down and whispered, "You look beautiful."

She smiled radiantly at him, blushing.

Harry smiled at her from Draco's side, as he was the 'best man.' He and Ron had a coin toss as to who was going to be with Draco at the altar.

The rites were short, and the Minister bonded them.

"Today, you shall be bonded as man and wife, from this day onwards, now and forever."

All the women became quite emotional, dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs or trying to hold back tears.

There were no rings exchanged and kisses shared, but the ceremony was solemn and intimate, and, at that moment, Hermione felt like the happiest woman alive.

The way Draco looked in his black and white dress robes gave her butterflies in the stomach and set her heart beating furiously, and the speed increased even more when she saw the look on his face when he smiled at her. The way he looked at her showed the depth of his soul, and that night, his indifferent mask had fallen and she could see all his feelings. He looked at her like he was really in love with her, and, what was most significant for her that night was when she realized that she loved the man.

Draco Malfoy has never seen a woman so beautiful. He nearly had to rub his eyes to see whether it was just a dream he was having. How could someone look as beautiful as her? He had to admit, she looked even more beautiful than his mother-and that was saying something, because all his life, he believed his mother was the most beautiful woman in the whole of the Wizarding World. The green did wonders to her skin color, and he was sure it was his mother who gave the green necklace.

He knew that loving someone was different from being _in_ love, but he figured he felt both for Hermione.

How could a man like him- a Death Eater- actually deserve her? She was kind and loving and brave. She was selfless and sacrificing, she fought for what she believed in and she never gave up. How could he, Draco Malfoy, end up so lucky as to be able to marry her? He remembered the night when he told them the news- how she reacted, and how she said yes, even if it meant marrying the man who teased her and called her a Mudblood all those years, who was a Death Eater, who could have killed her anytime. Even with all that, she still said yes, she still trusted him. She forgave him for what he has done in the past, she accepted him, and that was the best thing Draco has ever received.

* * *

Once the rites were over, they all headed to the Great Hall, where all the other Order members were already waiting. The members of Dumbledore's Army were also there, and soon, there were a little more than 100 guests in the Great Hall. The elves prepared a sumptuous meal, and there was wine and firewhiskey served.

There was loud music playing and everybody was having a grand time.

In the middle of the meal, Harry stood up and tapped his goblet with his spoon, asking for silence from everyone.

"Even if the Bride and Groom insist that this isn't a real wedding, I'm sure it won't hurt to give a toast." He started, and some people laughed. "A toast to Hermione and Malfoy, even with your differences, you have come together to help for the Greater good. We know how big being married is, and for that, we thank you and congratulate you. Cheers!"

Ginny stood up next. "To Malfoy and Hermione, the most bizarre couple I have ever met in my entire life. You two, like what Harry said, have put aside your differences and learned to live with each other-without killing each other, and mind you, that's a big achievement-and love each other. A toast to Hermione and Draco Malfoy!" With this, some people laughed, including Hermione and Draco.

Dumbledore, Ron, McGonagall, and Hermione's parents also spoke.

Narcissa's turn came and she gracefully stood up and faced Hermione and Draco, smiling at them.

"To Hermione and Draco, who are perfect examples of the generation today, sacrificing and courageous. May the both of you get through this War safely, and may you both have a prosperous and happy life ahead of you."

Once the final toast was given, Hermione and Draco stood up.

"We would just like to thank all of you for coming here," Draco started.

"And for sticking with us all the time. Without all of you, we're not sure if we would have survived. We hope that everyone stays safe and brave."

There was loud cheering, and Dumbledore and McGonagall emerged with a three-foot wedding cake. Draco and Hermione stared at the cake with eyes open and mouths agape.

Harry came from behind them and pushed them towards it. "Go on, cut the first slice!"

Hermione and Draco shared a surprised look. Ginny appeared beside them. "Oh come on, don't be shocked. It's not a Wedding if there's no cake.

Draco and Hermione then walked to the cake, and, like what they did in the potions lab, Hermione held the knife while Draco's hand enclosed hers. They sliced the cake, and everyone clapped and cheered. They then each got a slice for themselves. Hermione got a piece and fed it to Draco, and Draco did the same. Everyone cheered again.

Draco and Hermione stared at each other for a while, then Draco surprised everyone by reaching out to Hermione and kissing her. After recovering from shock, everyone clapped and cheered. A few gushes and 'awws' and 'how cute' were heard from the women. The men rolled their eyes at the women. Harry mumbled under his breath "Why do women have to be ove sensitive and sentimental?"  
"Beats me." Said Ron.

Finally, the Wedding and the reception was over. It was already way past midnight, and Order members started heading out, but not before congratulating the couple. Some of them even gave them gifts. Harry, Ron, and Ginny headed back up to the Gryffindor rooms after promising Draco and Hermione that they would all see them the next day. McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Snape bid them goodnight and also headed out. Hermione's parents said goodbye and left also, and so did Narcissa. Finally, it was Draco and Hermione left.

"Are we going to clean up?" Hermione asked, regarding the mess.

"No, let the House elves clean up all this shit. Let's head down."

Hermione wanted to retort about the Elves, but since she was tired, she let this pass. "What about the gifts?"

"I suppose we can just get it tomorrow, but I'm very curious as to what they gave."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, me too. But let's do that tomorrow. My legs hurt like hell." Draco nodded and they both exited the Great Hall and headed down to the Slytherin common rooms.

Hand in hand, they walked slowly. "So today wasn't so bad." Hermione started.

"Yeah, It was great, actually." Draco replied.

"There were so much people in the reception." He said, laughing. Hermione chuckled too. "And the cake! It was heaven."

"Yeah. The Weasley twins were fun." Draco said, reminiscing the time when him and the twins played a prank on their brother Percy during the party.

"See? And you didn't want them to be there."

"I didn't say anything about _not_ wanting them to be there."

Hermione chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Malfoy."

"Speaking of sleep, here we are." He said, stopping as they faced the Slytherin Common room.

Since it was Hermione's first time to enter the Slytherin dorms, she was amazed at the look. It had an eerie green glow, but the interior and the furniture were like royalty. The chairs and sofas were like that of the Gryffindor common rooms, but, judging from the appearance, Hermione figured the Slytherin's were much more expensive. Since most of the students were purebloods, Hermione guessed that their parents donated some things. Entering Draco's room, Hermione was also left speechless. Since he was all alone, there was only one bed left in the dorm room. It had soft, emerald green sheets and curtains on the four-poster bed, his broom was standing in one corner of the room, and he had a shelf full of books in one side. Hermione was too busy gazing the room that she did not realize Draco watching her.

He walked behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You like it?" he softly said in her ear.

"Yeah." Hermione replied.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He said, nuzzling her cheek.

"Mmm." Hermione hummed, distracted by Draco. Draco started kissing her cheek, then her neck, then her exposed shoulders.

"It isn't as beautiful as you, though."

"Mmhmm." She replied, closing her eyes at his kisses.

He unzipped her dress, and she finally turned to face him. She reached up to kiss him as her dress fell down to her feet. She took off his robes, he reached back to unhook her bra. She unbuttoned his dress shirt, they took of their shoes. Draco walked forward and Hermione walked backwards towards the bed, still with their lips locked.

"Merlin, Granger. I have to say this again, you're so beautiful." He said in between kisses.

"So are you." She replied. She lay down on the bed and he followed, both of them shedding the rest of their clothes.

He continued to kiss her and run his hands feverishly everywhere, slowly, and tantalizingly. She moaned, and, without warning, he thrust into her, but not before casting the Contraceptive charm. (He was sure Hermione wouldn't like it very much if she had to fight pregnant. Plus, he was sure they weren't ready for that kind of thing.)

He continued this, and their arms and hands were all over each other, their legs, a tangled mess, their bodies wet and sweaty, lust and passion radiating from them.

They went at it for hours, teenage hormones attacking them.

Eventually, they finally fell asleep, tired and exhausted.

* * *

A/N: I edited this chapter because as I was rereading it, I noticed that there was a part that was typed two times..

Soooooo, how was it? Please don't forget to review! Thanks!


	16. Chapter Fifteen

I do not own Harry Potter and its characters

* * *

Hermione woke up first, not knowing where she was for a while. At first, she did not know why everything around her was green, why the sheets seemed softer and silkier than usual, and why she was naked and sore all over. She rolled over and felt a body beside her, and she immediately opened her eyes and looked to the side. At first, she was horrified to see Draco Malfoy lying next to her, and, judging from his bare torso, also naked. When she was about to scream, though, memories of the previous night flooded her brain and the feeling of horror was replaced by realization: She was Hermione Malfoy. Not Granger anymore. She still didn't know what to think of that, and decided to drop it since she was still sleepy. Draco groaned beside her and yawned. He wrapped his arms around her, and buried his head in her neck. His eyes were still closed, but Hermione could see a small smile in his lips.

"Good Morning." She said.

"Mmmm. Morning." He mumbled, kissing her neck. "What time is it?"

Hermione looked at the clock in his bedside table. "Early."

He rolled them so she was lying on top of him. He was fully awake now, hair ruffled as he gave her a lazy smile. "How was your night?"

"Enjoyable…" Hermione replied, chuckling. She kissed him on the lips.

"Mrs. Malfoy. I like the sound of that." He said, suddenly remembering that Hermione's name was changed now.

"Yeah. Hermione Malfoy. It'll take time to get used to it."

"What do I call you now?"

"I don't know. Up to you."

"Granger?"

"Not anymore. Try my first name."

"Hermione." He said it as if it was a foreign word, not used to saying her first name. The way he said it though, it gave her butterflies in the stomach.

"Draco." She said, trying out his first name too. Draco smiled. "Say it again."

"What? Draco?"

He closed his eyes. "I'll never grow tired of hearing you say that. It's still the same, yet so different."

Hermione smiled and rested her head in her chest.

"I can't believe we're married."

Draco sighed. "Neither can I."

Hermione looked up at him. "Don't die in the war, okay? I don't want to be a widow this early."

Draco chuckled, and Hermione felt it vibrating through his chest. "I'll try. You too, though."

"I'll try too."

They just looked at each other in silence. Hermione leaned down to give him a kiss. "We have to get ready Harry, Ron, and Ginny are going to meet us in a few." She reminded.

Draco groaned and rolled them again, so now he was on top. He supported himself with his elbows, so as to not crush Hermione. "Let. Them. Wait." He said in between kisses.

Hermione smiled in the kiss and let him have it, deciding that Harry, and the other two would understand.

* * *

A few minutes later, both lay in the bed, breathing heavily from their short session.

"We really need to get ready." Hermione said, sitting up, holding the sheets to her chest.

"Fine, fine." Draco said, also sitting up.

"I'll go take a bath."

"Me too." Draco said with a suggestive tone in his voice.

"Nice try."

"What? I didn't say anything."

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes. "But you implied."

"Come on, we're both going to take a bath in the Prefect's bathroom, you know."

Hermione regarded him with lips pursed. "Fine." She said after a while. Draco smirked.

She rolled her eyes at him and stood up from the bed, grabbing Draco's dress shirt and her knickers.

"You do have a habit on wearing my shirts the day after, do you?" Draco said, as he put on his boxers and trousers.

"Even if my wedding dress is quite beautiful, I don't think I would be comfortable to wear it, now would it?" Hermione replied. Draco shrugged. "Guess you have a point."

They both then headed up to the fifth floor, where the bathroom was headed. There, they took a short bath (much to Draco's dismay) and headed down to the Great Hall, where they were to meet up with Harry, Ginny, and Ron.

Entering the Great Hall, they saw that the three were already there.

"Oi! What took you so long?" Ron asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. "Ron, you could be quite naïve sometimes. Can't you see all the love bites in Hermione's neck?"

Hermione's eyes grew wide as Harry and Draco looked amusedly at her. She tried to cover it, but Ginny continued. "Oh, there's nothing to hide, Hermione. We all know you had sex with Malfoy last night. It's your 'honeymoon' after all. Seriously, there's nothing to be ashamed of. All married couples do that. Look at mum and dad- they did it six times!" At this, Ron looked quite green on the edges.

Hermione shot Draco a dirty look. "This is your entire fault. If you have not been distracting me, I could have remembered to put a concealment charm on it!"

Draco laughed. "Oh, Granger (they eventually forgot to call each other by their first names after a while) you're really cute when you're mad, you know."

Hermione smacked him on the shoulder. "OW! What on Earth was that for?"

"You know, Malfoy, you're quite cute when you're in pain." She said, rolling her eyes, but smiling.

Harry watched this with an amused expression.

"You two are quite funny when you bicker."

Draco and Hermione both looked at him, and at the same time said "Shut up, Potter."

"Or what, Malfoy?" Harry replied, addressing them both. Both of them rolled their eyes.

"Which reminds me, are you still calling each other by your last names?" Ginny spoke up.

"We're working on it." Hermione replied.

"Okay, anyway," Ron said, "We're leaving for Grimmauld this afternoon."

"Really?" Draco asked.

"Yeah. Dumbledore told us. The school's closing for the summer holidays. He told us to pack our things and the House elves will bring it to Grimmauld."

Hermione sighed loudly. "Honestly, what is it with you people? First Malfoy, now Ron! How many times do I have to tell you not to abuse the elves?"

"Ugh, Hermione, stop it with your house elves crap." Ron said, rolling his eyes. Hermione was about to retort when Ginny but in. "What happened to Malfoy?"

"I didn't want to clean the mess last nigh, so I told her to leave it to the House Elves." Draco replied.

Hermione brightened up. "Speaking of last night, our gifts!"

Draco raised his eyebrows at the pile of gifts on top of the Slytherin table. He took out his wand and floated the gifts to their table. "Would you like to do the honors of opening the first gift" He asked Hermione. Hermione picked up a gift from the pile. "It reads: To Hermione and Draco Malfoy, From Hestia Jones. Isn't she the woman with the short black hair and pink cheeks and-"

"The frilly pink robe? Yes." Draco replied, the image of the bubbly lady entering his head.

Hermione unwrapped the gift- it was a figurine. Draco and Hermione stared at the thing. "Umm. Well, that's very nice…" Draco started.

"Yes… we'll find a place for that later." Hermione finished, placing the tiny glass figurine on the table. Draco picked out a gift. "It's from the Weasleys." Draco read, glancing at Ron and Ginny. He opened it, and it was a clock- the same clock the Weasleys had in their house. It did not tell time; instead, it showed the status of the family members. At that time, the hands on the clock said 'school.' There were only two names on the clock: Hermione and Draco. Draco looked up to Ron and Ginny. "Thanks, really appreciate it." He said with a grin. Ron shrugged and Ginny nodded. Hermione opened the next one, and Draco opened the one after that. Soon, there was a pile of unwrapped presents on the table- some of them were quite useful, while others were simply useless-like the figurine. Seriously, what were they going to do with a small figurine at a time like this? "Oh well, it's the thought that counts." Hermione said, shrugging. Ron picked up what looked like a vase and held it in his hands. "Where will you put all these?"

"No idea. Throw it away, probably." Draco said. Hermione glared at him. "We will do no such thing. We'll keep it, of course. When the war ends and we get our own home, it'll prove useful." Hermione got a big bag and stuffed all the useless things inside. "For now, we'll leave it here at Hogwarts. We'll get it after the war."

"Whatever you say, _dear_." Draco said, rolling his eyes.

They all headed back to their separate rooms to pack their things and get ready to leave for Grimmauld in the afternoon. Dumbledore checked on them and told them that he would be going ahead, since the rest of the Order members were already there. Once they were finished packing and eating lunch, they sent the Elves (much to Hermione's protests) to bring the bags to Grimmauld. They all stood there, in front of the giant gates of Hogwarts.

"I'm going to miss this place." Hermione said, sighing.

"Me too." Draco said.

"This is where everything happened, you know?" Harry supplied.

"Yeah. This is where I met you guys." Ron said.

"And to think, that in possibly a few days, the school might not even be here anymore. Who knows what Voldemort will do to it?" Hermione said again.

"We better go." Ginny said, looking at her watch.

And, with one last look at their glorious school, the five of them turned around and walked to Hogsmeade, where they were to apparate.

* * *

Arriving outside Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the five of them entered quickly. They found out that the important people were already there waiting for the five of them in the dining room. Draco spotted his mother sitting beside Andromeda Tonks and he gave them a peck on the cheek.

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, Mr. and Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter, please, have a seat." Dumbledore said once they've entered. "We were just about to start."

Harry and the four sat down and everybody settled down.

"First of all, we would like once again to congratulate Draco and Hermione Malfoy." Dumbledore said, and claps were heard around the room.

"Second of all, I am pleased to hear that Mad-Eye reckons that we are very nearly ready for the Great War. We are continuing with our spy missions and our searches for ways to defeat Nagini, but other than that, we are ready to take down the Dark side and bring light to our world. Voldemort has been laying low, which is why we have been sending some of you to spy on the Death Eaters for their activities. So far, all we know is that Voldemort is strengthening his army, recruiting more people and creatures to join him. We too have been recruiting more people who are willing to fight for the war, and I'm pleased to say that there are a good number of those people.

Thirdly, I would like to remind all of you that this is where our Headquarters will be, and I am the Secret Keeper. This is where some of you will stay, of course, and will be a safe house for those in danger or those being tracked by the Dark side."

Moody stood up and addressed the members. "We will be having the same schedule for the spy missions, except for Mister Malfoy and Severus."

Hermione glanced sideways at Draco, who was wearing an expressionless mask.

Everyone else dispersed, heading to the spy missions or heading to the Ministry.

"Mister Malfoy, Severus, a word, please." Dumbledore said when Draco was about to leave. He looked at Hermione. "Go ahead." Hermione nodded and headed up to the room assigned to them.

Draco and Snape stayed in the room with Dumbledore and Moody. Narcissa waited outside the room.

"Mister Malfoy, Severus, you will have to report to Voldemort soon." Dumbledore started. Draco gulped.

"When Headmaster?"

"In two days. You must not keep Voldemort waiting, or else he will be suspicious."

Draco had a bad feeling in his gut as he heard the news. He had to face that evil monster in two days? Damn.  
"Very well, Headmaster." Snape replied.

"You shall leave early on Tuesday morning, and you will have to stay for about three days so that you could gain information. When you come back, though, you must go first to Hogwarts, and then go here. Do not go here right away, because you never know who might be watching you." Moody said.

The two men nodded.

"We will see you on Tuesday, early morning." Moody said, and dismissed them.

Outside, Narcissa approached them. "Well? What is it?"

"We have to pay the Dark Lord a visit on Tuesday. We will stay there for three days." Snape informed.

Narcissa paled, but nodded in understanding. "Very well, I will see you on Tuesday, then, Severus."

Snape nodded, gave Draco a pat on the shoulder, and left. Draco faced Narcissa.

"Mother, be safe when you're there, okay?" Draco said.

Narcissa smiled. "I don't know how many times you have said that to me, but yes, son, I will. You too, okay?" She said, stroking her son's hair. Draco nodded, and Narcissa kissed his forehead. "I have to go now."

"Goodbye mother."

"Goodbye Draco."

Draco headed up the stairs and into the room he shared with Hermione. He saw Hermione unpacking her things and putting them in the cabinet.

"Careful, that one's broken." He said, when Hermione was about to pull out a drawer. Hermione looked at him weirdly but pulled it anyways. It was indeed broken. She looked back at Draco, giving him a questioning look. He shrugged. "Told you so."

"How did you know?"

"I used to come here before, like, when I was really really young. My mother used to take me here. I'm the reason why that drawer is broken, actually. It was the first time I did magic. I broke that drawer because I was mad or something. I don't really remember."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "O almost forgot you were related to Siruis."

"Yeah, he's like my uncle or something. But I never got to meet him. He already ran away and was in Azkaban, I think."

Hermione fixed the broken drawer, put the rest of her clothes inside and straightened up, looking at him.

"What did you talk about?"

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Uncle and I are going to Voldemort on Tuesday. Two days from now. We'll be there for three days."

"Three days? Where?"

"The manor, of course. That's the Death Eater Headquarters. I swear, if Voldemort dies and we win, I will probably have that house burned down."

"You meant to say you'll be in a house full of Death Eaters for three days?"

"Yes. Dumbledore says that we should stay there so that Voldemort will know we still work for him or something."

Hermione nodded slowly. "That's worse than the spy missions Ron and Harry are supposed to do. Although Harry's having private sessions with Dumbledore every now and then."

Draco nodded absently and slumped on a nearby chair. "I'm tired."

Hermione walked up to him and sat on his lap, resting her head on his chest. "I'm worried about you and Tuesday."

"So am I, actually."

"Do you know what will happen? Do you think Voldemort will be suspicious?"

"I have absolutely no idea. I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly on Tuesday."

"You're not alone there, Malfoy."


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter and its characters.

It's almost Christmas! Can't believe it! So excited :D

* * *

Draco and Hermione found a place to lounge and look at the stars at night. Draco found it while exploring the house the next day. It was the balcony, located at the topmost floor, not quite big, and a bit dirty from all the dirt and leaves falling, but it was a place of peace and relaxation. Hermione and Draco found themselves sitting here the night before Draco had to leave for the Manor. It was quiet between the both of them, with sounds of cars and people from downstairs filling their ears. They were sitting on the ground, a little reclined to have a better view of the stars.

"There are many stars tonight." Hermione started. "You see the constellation Draco?" She said, pointing to the constellation with whose name he shared.

"Yeah."

Hermione looked sideways to Draco and saw his face slightly tense.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?"

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Yes, actually, you see it when your jaw is tense and your eyes are quite hard." She reached forward to touch his face. "You're making me nervous."

Draco relaxed at her touch, closing his eyes briefly. There was silence and both just sat side by side by the roof.

Draco suddenly got Hermione's hand. Hermione looked at their entwined hands.

"You know, I never got the chance to give this to you." Draco said. Hermione looked up at his face. "Give what?"

"This."

And Hermione felt something cold in her ring finger. She looked down and gasped.

"Oh Malfoy, it's beautiful!" Hermione exclaimed as she examined the ring he had given her.

"It's been passed on to the many Malfoy women for centuries. Runs back to the age even before Voldemort existed."

"Malfoy-"

"Since I am the Malfoy heir, and you are my wife, my mother has given me this ring to give to you, now the rightful owner of this ring."

"I-oh wow. Thank you, Malfoy. It's wonderful."

Draco smiled at her, raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "You're welcome."

He looked at his watch. "I have to go, it's getting late and I have to be up early. Goodnight."

He didn't wait for her reply; he left her there, on the balcony, still looking at the blood red ruby on her finger.

* * *

Hermione woke up early the next morning to an empty bed. She immediately got out of bed and put on a robe, rushing out of the house in hopes that Draco has not yet left.

She got out just a second before he disapparated.

She got out just in time for them to make eye contact.

He spoke the words softly but clearly, only looking at her with a small smile on his lips.

"I love you, Hermione."

She never had the chance to say it back, because he was gone.

A few minutes later, inside the house, she just realized that it was the first time he had said her first name out of his free will.

* * *

The next three days found Hermione in a constant state of worry. What were they doing now? Did Voldemort believe them? Did any of them have any suspicions about Draco's loyalty? Is Draco safe?

Hermione helped around the house, cleaning and cooking, trying to stop worrying, this worked fro a while, however, she would worry again after three minutes. She was restless and bored, and sometimes would just lie in bed, thinking.

Sometimes, she would invite Harry and Ron outside to practice her defensive spells. They taught her spells they learned from Aurors while she was busy researching for the Horcruxes.

When she grew tired of worrying and practicing, she would think about their future together.

Would they have kids? Where would she work after this? Where would _he_ work, and where would they live?

She would try to read to pass the time, but soon found out that it was useless because she would read the same sentence for about ten minutes, the information not sinking in.

Ginny, Harry, and Ron also worried about her.

"Hermione, please, just relax!" Ginny said on the second day. "He's coming tomorrow, so there's nothing to worry about!"

"What do you mean 'there's nothing to worry about?' There's _everything_ to worry about! We don't know anything that's going on in there!"

"Hermione, Ginny's right. It won't do you good of you worry your head off." Harry said.

"I'm trying, Harry, I'm trying to get it off my mind, but it always comes back." Hermione groaned. "Not even reading can distract me!"

"Hermione, I'm sure he's fine. He's coming tomorrow already. That's like, less than 24 hours."

Hermione momentarily closed her eyes. "He better come back."

* * *

The next day, Hermione woke up early in the morning and headed to Hogwarts with Harry, Ron, and Ginny, waiting for Draco and Snape's return.

She brought a few clothes, some food, and Healing potions and books, just in case something bad happened to them.

"Why again must it be Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

"Because they can't apparate to Grimmauld right away. Someone might suddenly take hold of them while apparating and they'll see where the Headquarters are." Hermione explained. "Now hurry along, we must not waste any time!" She said, as she walked briskly up the hill to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade.

"Hermione, slow down a bit. We don't even know when they'll come." Harry said, catching up to Hermione.

"Which is why we must go faster. Who knows how they'll be when they come back. They might be injured or something."

Arriving at the courtyard, though, there was no one in sight.

Hermione pursed her lips in worry and sat on a bench.

"Oooh, Hogwarts is kinda creepy when there's no one around." Ginny said as she sat down beside Hermione on the bench. "Does anyone know how long we'll be waiting?"

"No." Harry and Ron replied.

Ginny stared at then and shrugged. "Good thing I have food, then. Heaven knows we could be staying here until dark."

They did, in fact, stay there until dark. Hermione was now pacing up and down the court yard. Ginny was asleep on the bench while Harry and Ron walked to Hogsmeade to buy them more food. There were a few torches around the courtyard, and Hermione lit them all.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop and Hermione stopped abruptly.

She heard footsteps coming from the darkness, and even if she was so eager to run to Draco, she made sure to remember the proper precautions in knowing whether the person was an impostor or not.

She waited anxiously as the footsteps grew louder. She was so eager to know, that her body was already inclined forward.

A figure stepped out from the shadows, but Hermione still couldn't distinguish who it was-the light was too dim.

Finally, Hermione was able to see.

It wasn't Draco, though. It wasn't Snape either- it was Dumbledore.

"P-professor Dumbledore." Hermione said, surprised. Then, she narrowed her eyes and pointed her wand at him. "What is the name of Professor Dumbledore's Phoenix?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Why, it's Fawkes, of course."

Hermione lowered her wand. "Sorry, Professor. I had to make sure."

"Of course, Miss Gra-Malfoy. Sorry. I take it that the two haven't come back yet?"

"No, sir. We have been waiting for the whole day."

"And the rest of your friends? Where are they?"

"Ginny's asleep," She said, pointing a giant lump on the bench. "and Harry and Ron went to Hogsmeade to get some food. I reckon they'll be back soon."

And, as if on cue, harry and Ron emerged from the darkness. Dumbledore and Hermione asked the necessary questions to make sure that they were really Harry and Ron. Ginny woke up, and they all faced Dumbledore.

"Professor, would you know what time they would be back?" Hermione asked.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Gra-Malfoy. Sorry again, But it is quite odd that they aren't back yet. That was why I came here to check on you. Moody will be here shortly, and we have decided to stay here until they are back."

Hermione paled. "Do you think anything has happened, Professor?"

"I hope not, but we weren't sure in the start about he three-day visit to the Malfoy Manor. Sometimes, Voldemort could be quite unexpected, doing things out of the ordinary- or maybe Severus and young Malfoy do not see it yet as a time to leave."

Eventually, McGonagall, Moody, Hagrid (since he is the gamekeeper), and some of the Weasleys came. Hagrid opened the castle and they decided to just sleep in the Great Hall. The Aurors and Dumbledore kept watch the whole night, but Draco and Snape did not appear.

When Hermione woke up and discovered that they haven't come back, her worries increased tenfold. Now she was fidgeting almost every time and she just really couldn't sit still!

Again, like the previous day, Hermione stayed outside, waiting for their return.

They have not come back yet.

Hermione was nearly in tears when she sorrowfully went back to the Great Hall during the evening. She sat beside Ginny. "Gin, they're not here yet."

Ginny rubbed Hermione's shoulders. "Maybe Dumbledore was right. Maybe they didn't think it was time to go yet."

Hermione nodded, and soon, she couldn't contain her tears anymore. She cried and Ginny comforted her. She cried herself to sleep that night.

The next morning came, and still they have not appeared. Hermione was now frantic and Harry, Ron, and Ginny felt that if this continued, she might go crazy.

"Do you have any calming potion or something?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Yeah, I'll get it."

Soon, Ginny had the potion and gave it to Hermione. Hermione drank it up in one gulp, and it worked. She instantly felt calm and relaxed, and a peaceful smile appeared on her lips. "I feel better now, thank you."

Ginny smiled at her. "No problem, Hermione. Now I want you to stay here and eat your breakfast while I go get stuff from Hogsmeade, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." And with that, Ginny went outside, leaving Hermione in a state of calmness.

Not minutes later, though, Hermione heard a voice. She looked up to find Ginny in the doors of the great Hall, panting.

"Hermione! It's Draco, he's back!"

Hermione immediately got up, the potion's effect wearing off.

She ran all the way to the courtyard, only to stop abruptly.

There, on the ground, was an unconscious Draco, his mother's hand on his right hand, and a bloody basilisk fang on the other hand.

Snape was keeling by him, feeling his pulse.

He was as pale as death, long red line running across his cheek.

His mother was crying and calling his name over and over again.

* * *

A/N: Noo! Please please please don't get mad at me! Death Eaters came by the house and forced me to write this! By WAND POINT! So sorry!

But don't worry, there's good news on the way. Your anger and despair will be short-lived. :D

That's all I'm going to say.

Hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think! And don't get mad. It's part of the plot.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Here it is, hope you guys are happy.

I do not own HP

* * *

Hermione froze for five seconds, then she rushed forward and knelt beside Draco. Panic rose to Hermione's chest and tears were starting to fall as she held his cold hand. The voices of others faded into the background, and at that moment, Draco's pale face was all she can see.

"Draco, Draco, can you hear me? Draco, please tell me you're alive- Draco!"

Hermione said over and over, sobbing, brushing his hair away from his face.

The others tried to bring her away, but she held his arm and never let him go. "Someone, call a healer!" Hermione screamed. "Draco, Draco, stay with me, love. Don't die, please."

"I have yet to say I love you."

And with that, she sobbed to his chest, and after a while, she allowed them to take her away as the healers came and brought him to St. Mungo's.

It was a blur of people as they rushed him in the hallways, and after checking him in and letting the Healers do the work, Hermione went out of the room and sat heavily on a chair.

Narcissa was sitting by, she let go of Draco when Hermione came, and now, while everyone else rushed to talk to Snape about what had happened, it was only Hermione and Narcissa left. Seeing Hermione, Narcissa went over to her and hugged her. Hermione hugged her back, crying into her mother-in-law's shoulder.

"Oh, Hermione. You don't know what happened." Narcissa said as they both tried to stop crying.

"Voldemort knows already, Hermione." Narcissa said. "He learned about us betraying him, and he punished Draco. He crucioed him and cast all kinds of spells on him. He crucioed him so many times. And when Draco was nearly dead, he aimed his wand at him and muttered the Avada Kedavra. But Lucius took it for him. Hermione, Lucius took the Avada for Draco. Lucius died saving his son." And with that, Narcissa burst again into tears. "B-but before Draco could apparate us, he killed the snake."

Narcissa cried more, and Hermione let her and she comforted her until she was okay, trying to fight back her own tears.

"Hermione, I don't know if he'll ever wake up, or if he will, I don't know if he'll be the same." Narcissa said in between sobs.

The rest of them soon entered the waiting room and they all waited for any results or news of Draco. Snape said a story similar to tat of Narcissa's, narrating how they all learned of their betrayal.

"Voldemort forced Draco to let him see his mind, and even crucioed the boy so that his defenses would go down and he won't have enough mental strength to perform occulemency. One scene in Draco's mind is enough to know which side he is on. Even if Draco tried to lie and tell him it was spy work, Voldemort still did not believe him. I reckon Voldemort is extremely angry, but will not strike yet in the next few days. He still has to plan the attack, since he does not know which if the information we gave him was true or false."

Everyone stayed with them for the rest of the day. Eventually, they all had to go home or get something to eat, so some went down to the hospital cafeteria while others went home, promising that they would come back the next day. Dumbledore, Moody, Snape, and McGonagall went back to Hogwarts to talk about their current situation.

It was only Hermione and Narcissa who were left outside the room, awaiting for news of Draco's situation.

* * *

A few hours later, a healer came out of the room and addressed them.

"Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy." He started. "There is good news, and there is bad news, of course."

"Go on." Hermione said.

"Good news is: Mister Malfoy is not dead. Multiple spells were cast on him, most of them Crucio, and some were Dark spells that are quite disturbing. The healers are now working on him, countering and taking off most of the spells. They have healed about sixty percent of him, and his heart beat is now beating steadily. It was a miracle that he was able to apparate two of you in the state he was in. he could have splinched himself-or worse.

Bad news is: that he is in a state of coma. It has been a little over six hours and still he has not woken up yet. We tried different reviving spells or awakening spells, and yet he has not responded to any of these."

Narcissa gasped. Hermione paled.

"Do you think he will wake up anytime soon?" Narcissa asked worriedly.

"We are never sure of these things, but I reckon it won't last long. We are not sure though if he dies or if he awakens. We will update you soon."

"Thank you." Hermione said, and the healer left them. Hermione and Narcissa sat in silence for a while, the news still not quite sinking in.

Harry and some of the Weasleys soon came back.

"Heard any news?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded. "He's not dead, but he's in a coma."

Molly gasped. "Is it that bad?"

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe not. The healer said he reckons it won't be long."

Molly nodded and patted her back.

"Maybe you two should eat. We got something for you." And she brought out a bag of bread for Hermione and Narcissa.

"Thank you Molly, really." Narcissa said, accepting the bag from Molly.

"Don't mention it, Narcissa." Molly said with a smile.

"What will happen, then? When will Voldemort strike? Won't he be angry and make a move at once?" Hermione asked.

"I talked to Snape and Dumbledore a while back." Harry supplied. "Snape said that they'll probably strike not earlier than next week."

"Why?"

"Because they don't know which information Draco and Snape gave was true. They can't just barge into an army twice as large as theirs. Voldemort wants to be better, the army with the more soldiers. He doesn't believe in those 'fight till you die; shit. He wants 'fight and win easily' shit."

"I guess that's a relief, then. Unless, of course, he makes a surprise attack."

"That's what we're hoping against."

Hermione sighed and rubbed her bloodshot eyes.

"Seems like I'm going to be staying here for quite a while. I better get some clothes from Grimmauld."

Narcissa sighed too. "I can't go back to the Manor anymore. I suppose I could borrow things from Andromeda."

Hermione laid a consoling hand on her mother-in-law's shoulder. "I'm sure she won't hesitate to help you."

* * *

It was getting dark when the healer who talked to them a while back came back.

"Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy, you can come in and see mister Malfoy already. We have countered all the spells cast upon him, but that's the only thing we could do for him. We will have to wait until he wakes up or…" he did not finish the sentence, but everyone knew what he was talking about.

Hermione and Narcissa nodded and both stood up and walked towards the room.

"Hermione." Ron called. Hermione looked back with a questioning look.

"We'll go back to Grimmauld. If any of you need anything, don't hesitate to call for us."

Hermione smiled at him and nodded, she then turned and closed the door behind her as she entered Draco's room.

She saw him there lying on the bed, looking lifeless and helpless. She pulled a chair near his bed like what Narcissa did, and they just sat there for a while, listening to the buzzing of the different contraptions surrounding him. It was different from the machines in the Muggle world, of course.

"Hermione, dear, would it be alright with you if I leave you first? I need to get clothes for the stay here, then when I'm back, you can get your clothes too from Grimmauld." Narcissa said, standing up.

"Sure, take your time." She replied.

When Narcissa left, Hermione scooted closer to Draco's bed and took his hand.

"Hey Draco." She started, deciding to talk to him to pass the time. "I'm calling you Draco now, you know. I'm kinda getting used to it already, ever since you called me by my first name just before you left. I don't know why I waited for you to use my name before I started using yours." She chuckled quietly to herself. "Oh, what am I doing? Talking to you when you couldn't even hear me- and about names, too!" She sighed and brushed hair out of his face. "You need a hair cut. All the hair's going to your eyes-simply won't do with the war, although I don't think you'll fight at all. Speaking of the war, I've learned new spells from Harry and Ron, you know. While I waited for you. I don't want to boast, of course, but I pride myself in being a fast learner- it wasn't hard for me to perform the spells." She started tearing up when she didn't hear any response -she knew that he was in a coma, but she missed his voice and his witty remarks. She could already imagine what he would say if they were in an actual conversation.

"Draco Malfoy, I miss you."

Narcissa Malfoy came back a few minutes later, seeing a tired Hermione holding Draco's hand and her head resting on the bed. "Hermione, dear, I'm back. You could go to Grimmauld and get some clothes for the stay."

Hermione nodded and stood up. She yawned and stretched and Narcissa took her place in the chair near Draco as she went down to the lobby and apparated.

She took a quick dinner with Ron, Harry, and Ginny once she arrived there, telling each other the plans for the next few days.

"Moody says that we'll lay low for this week and be prepared for surprise attacks from the Dark side. Next week, we'll continue with the spying and stuff, and we wait until Voldemort strikes. About Malfoy, Dumbledore said that we'll be keeping a close eye on him. He's going to be really helpful in the war. We're all hoping that he'll be alright."

Hermione nodded slowly and pursed her lips, thinking deeply. "Even if he wakes up, Harry, I don't want him to fight. He sure won't be in the right shape. He needs at least one month's rest and I'm sure Voldemort won't be waiting one month until he attacks. I shudder to think what will happen to him if he goes out to fight just days after his recovery. he still has to undergo physical therapy and they have to be really sure that he's fully recovered."

Harry shrugged "We never know, Hermione, we don't know what's on Voldemort's mind nowadays."

Hermione went upstairs to get a few clothes. She did not know how long they would stay there, but she hoped that it wouldn't be too long. Not only did she have to train for the battle, she also had to make more healing potions with Snape.

She gave a last look at the room she shared with Draco before leaving. It was nearly empty, save for some bags and books lying around. The room was the biggest room in the house, and the most beautiful. Right now, though, it looked empty and forlorn, as if it matched the emotions of those residing in it.

* * *

A/N: See? He's not dead...yet. HAHAHA..I'm kidding, I'm kidding..You'll have to wait and see. Don't worry, I'm working on it :D

It's nearly Christmas! Thanks again for all the reviews..


	19. Chapter Eighteen

A/N: Hello to all! Sorry for the rather late update, I've been busy with Christmas stuff. Well, here it is! I don't know when I'll be able to update next, by the way, because I'll be out most of the time, but I'll try my best to update as soon as possible.  
Oh yeah, before I forget: Thank you thank you thank you for all the reviews! There'e already 100+ and I really could not have done it with all of you. I'm really happy and thankful that you take time to read and review my story!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

* * *

Hermione and Narcissa have been staying in St. Mungo's for five days already, with visits from the rest of the Order and Dumbledore, yet there was no sign of recovery from Draco.

Hermione and Narcissa usually talked about Draco during their stay. Narcissa would tell her stories about the young Draco, about how he looked up to his father so much, about how his views changed as he grew older and experienced more things in life. Narcissa narrated that one day when they changed sides and how it affected her.

Hermione would also talk to Draco when they were alone, telling him her secrets, her fears, how she imagined them after the war.

"I wonder if we'll ever have children. I like children, you know? And I wonder what we're going to name them. And where we'll live, and what your job would be. Then we'll be bringing them to the Hogwarts express when they're eleven. Oh! Imagine buying their wands and their robes for their first year in school! Do you remember your first day in school? I remember mine…"

And when she grew tired of talking, she would just sit there, gazing at him, thinking to herself the many different possibilities if he ever woke up from the coma. What if he would be paralyzed? What if he became mental?

She still cried, especially when she imagined these situations. She would tear up a little every time she imagined that he won't wake up in maybe a month, or worse, a year, or even worse, that he won't wake up at all.

She hardly left his side, only leaving for bathroom breaks or if she wanted to eat something from the cafeteria. Snape and Dumbledore also came every once in a while, but would eventually disappear, talking about plans and strategies.

They all started worrying about Voldemort's revenge, and Harry called Hermione out of the room on the fifth day.

"Hermione, you have to continue training already."

"Harry, I'm fine. I don't want to leave Draco alone."

"Even if he doesn't wake up until the war? What are you going to do, Hermione?"

"I don't know." Hermione said, sighing, "I honestly don't know what to do."

"Voldemort can barge into St. Mungo's anytime, or he could attack Hogsmeade, or Grimmauld, or-"

"Harry, I get it, okay? You just have to have a little faith, you know?" Hermione interrupted. "He _will_ wake up. I know it."

"How do you know?"

"I-I just do."

Harry sighed and took Hermione by the shoulders. "I understand that you really care for him, Hermione, but you can't stay with him all the time. We have so much preparations going on and you're needed."

Hermione momentarily closed her eyes. "I'll figure something out, Harry. If he doesn't wake up by the end of the week, then I'll go back and help. Is that okay?"

Harry nodded. "I'm really sorry you have to do this, Hermione. I know that you…love him, and you want to be with him, but he won't move from his place, unlike Voldemort, who can make an attack anytime now."

Hermione nodded. "I understand too, Harry. I'm sure Draco won't like it when he learns that I sat idle by his side while everyone else is out there, fighting for their lives."

She gave Harry a small smile, and he hugged her. "I hope this ends soon."

"You're not alone in that one."

Hermione went back inside and the rest of them left to go back to Grimmauld.

"Hermione, I'll just go to the bathroom." Narcissa said. Hermione nodded and scooted over to Draco's side.

Hermione was gazing at Draco as if memorizing his face. It was nearly as pale as the sheets he was lying on, and that deep gash on his cheek was still there. Narcissa told her that it had been Voldemort's knife, and that it was cursed with Dark magic that it possibly could not be healed with any healing charms. It could only be healed by time, and since it was Dark magic, it would take a really long time to wear off.

She looked at his closed eyes, remembering the wonderful feeling she had whenever she looked into his dark grey eyes. Sometimes, it was so emotionless, but other times, when it was only them alone, and especially during their wedding, his eyes were so full of emotion and feeling, it was overwhelming to even look at it.

Next, she looked at his lips, the same lips that kissed her, the same lips that said her name, the very lips that told her he loved her.

Suddenly, her eyes grew wide.

_Oh my._

_Was that a twitch?_

_I think I'm hallucinating. I need to get more sleep._

_It's probably nothing._

_OH. There it goes again._

Hermione stood frozen in her spot as she saw a twitch in his mouth. It looked like he was giving a small smile. After what seemed like forever, Hermione abruptly stood up and called for a healer.

"A healer! I need a healer right now!"

Their healer, a tall, lean man in his mid 30s whose name Hermione has forgotten appeared in the doorway. "Yes, Mrs. Malfoy?"

Hermione pointed to Draco. "He twitched. Is that normal?"

The healer, whose name Hermione remembered as Healer Smith, furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'twitched?'"

Hermione looked at him as if he was stupid. "As in twitch _twitch._ His mouth twitched twice upward. I saw it. I don't know if that's normal or not."

Healer Smith went over to Draco's side and did some spells that will check if he responded to stimuli. Narcissa came back from the bathroom and was alarmed as she saw the Healer in the room. "Is anything the matter?"

"No, I saw his mouth twitch awhile ago and healer Smith is checking if he has awakened." Hermione replied, eyes not moving from Draco's face.

Narcissa relaxed and went over to the bed. "Well?"

"It seems that Mrs. Malfoy is correct. Look here." He said, as he cast a spell on Draco, and Draco's forehead creased and his eyebrows furrowed. "That was painful stimuli, and he responded properly. He's waking up. Look, he's stirring."

Hermione's heart was beating faster and faster as she saw Draco start to move-first his hands, then his head. She was gripping the bed rails so tight that her knuckles were turning white and her veins started to show.

They all watched quietly as he was coming to. Finally, Draco opened his eyes and Hermione started crying with tears of joy. Hermione took his hand and kissed it, resting her head on it. He closed his eyes again and Hermione panicked when he didn't open them again. Seeing Hermione's facial expression, the Healer said, "Don't worry, he's just sleeping. Normally, in the Muggle world, patients recovering from coma would take days to get back to their normal selves."

"But Draco's not a muggle." Hermione said.

"Exactly, that's why it would probably take at least three days until he is fully aware of his surroundings and reacts properly to stimuli. He would probably be able to be awake for a longer time by tomorrow, but don't expect anything else today. He's exhausted, so let him rest."

_He's been resting for the past five days already, duh._ Hermione thought to herself. But she was happy and relieved that Draco was alive. She hugged Narcissa and both cried.

"I'll tell the others." Narcissa said as they broke away from the hug. Hermione nodded and moved to the bed, wiping her wet eyes.

Healer Smith was still there, performing spells on Draco.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm scanning if there is anything wrong with his brain-if he would have mental illnesses or if he's paralyzed."

"Well? Is there?"

"So far, I don't see anything."

Hermione exhaled deeply. "So so far, he's doing great."

"Better, actually. I really think that he will be fully recovered in three days. He is very strong-willed. However, I strongly advise that he stay here for at least a month, we'll be helping him recover physically and mentally. He cannot leave for one month- cannot do anything strenuous, no running, no working, and absolutely no _fighting_."

Hermione nodded slowly. "I think that could be arranged."

Healer smith was about to say something else when everyone piled into the room.

"Oh, Hermione!" Molly said as she hugged Hermione fiercely. "I'm so happy he's awake!"

"Me too, Mrs. Weasley. You cannot imagine how happy I am."

"I heard that he'll be fully recovered in at least three days?" Dumbledore asked.

"Basically, yes, if you mean he responds properly to his senses. However, he needs to regain his physical strength, which is why they advise that he stay here for at least a month. That was what I was telling Mrs. Malfoy before you entered." The healer answered him.

Harry raised his eyebrows and Hermione sent him a look that said 'I told you so.'

"So that means he cannot join the battle against Voldemort."

Healer Smith winced at the Dark Lord's name but nodded. "Yes. He would be too weak physically and mentally, and we don't know when You Know Who will attack in the first place."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "It seems that we will not be able to receive mister Malfoy's help for the battle. But that is alright, because he has done more help than we could ever imagine him to do- he turned away from everything he has learned, he acted as a spy for our side and gave us information on the Dark side, he married dear Hermione, he killed the last Horcrux, and still, he is strong and he is recovering. His helpful deeds will not be forgotten, and he will continue living a great life- he will surely have a wonderful and fruitful life ahead of him."

"Albus, you make it sound as if he _is_ dead." Snape said.

Dumbledore laughed, a merry twinkle appearing in his eyes. "I apologize; I suppose I am in the sentimental mood right now."

And the atmosphere around the room brightened up, a feeling of lightness overcoming everyone. It was as if they were all filled with magic all over again, as if something good would happen to them soon.

Harry approached Hermione a short while after Dumbledore's short speech.

"I am so glad he's awake already." He said.

"Yeah, Harry, me too. Those were the worst five days in my entire life, I swear. It's even worse than me getting two mistakes in my Charms homework in fifth year, and that's saying something."

"That's one of the things I actually like about the Wizarding world: recovery from sicknesses or comas take much shorter than those of the muggles."

"Yes, sometimes, they take months to finally be themselves again."

"So that means he will still have a possibility to fight in the war, right?"

Hermione sighed. "Harry, we've been through this before. If Voldemort attacks in a little over a month, he could. But you heard the healer. One month, Harry."

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I'll drop it. But you'll be the one telling him that, not me."

Hermione nodded. "That's settled, then."

* * *

It's sorta short, and Draco's recovery does seem short and all compared to the real life stuff, but this is the Wizarding World so anything can happen. And this is also fan fiction, so yeah, anything can happen. Don't worry though, there's a reason for the very short recovery time. :D

Hope you all enjoyed it! I reckon there will be a few more chapter until this is done. I already have a new storyline for a new chaptered story forming inside my head. I'll probably work on it after this is done. Again, thank you very much for the reviews! Please continue giving them!


	20. Chapter Nineteen

A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys. Busy during the Christmas and the new Year. Happy New year, by the way, hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays.

Can't believe it's the end of the break already. Noo! I don't want to go to school yet. :|

But anyway, here it is. It's sorta rushed, so sorry if it isn't so good.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

Every day, Draco made progress. On the second day, he smiled and he was awake longer. On the third day, he could talk and he was awake almost the whole day. Narcissa was sleeping on a chair when he spoke up.

"Hermione." Was the first word that came out of his lips. His voice was heavy and hoarse. Hermione smiled down at him and took his hands in hers.

"I'm here."

"Where am I?"

"St. Mungo's, love. After you apparated back to Hogwarts, they brought you here and you were in a coma for five days. You don't know how worried I was." She said, her eyes watering. She still could not believe that he was finally awake, that everything was alright. "I heard what you did."

Draco smiled at his wife. "Don't cry anymore." he said as he reached up to brush away the tears.

Healer Smith entered the room. "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy."

Narcissa woke up, saw the Healer and Hermione, and walked to Draco. "Hello, son."

"Mother. Are you alright?"

Narcissa laughed at her son's concern. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I am, question is, are you?"

Draco laughed too and nodded. "I'm alright, but my legs feel dead." At this, Hermione's eyes widened. Seeing her expression, Draco said, "No, not in the paralyzed way, it's just that I haven't walked or moved them in how many days."

"Which is why, Mister Malfoy, we're going to bring you out of the bed today and you'll do some physical tests." Healer Smith spoke up, and a few nurses came in. "We'll be helping you, all you need to do is follow me and tell me if anything hurts or if there is a problem." He looked at the two ladies. "I'm sorry to say, but we're going to be in a different room, and you won't be allowed to enter."

"That's alright." Hermione said, and the nurses helped Draco get out if the bed slowly. He stumbled a bit once he got up, but regained his balance. The nurses gave him a cane to help him as they walked out of the room and into the physical therapy room.

"I'm so so happy he's okay." Narcissa said.

Hermione nodded as they watched him walk slowly but steadily, with the nurses around him. "Me too."

* * *

A few hours later, Draco came back and lay back on the bed. "Damn, that was tiring."

"What did the healers say?"

"I'm okay, nothing wrong with me. Just need to lay down, that's all."

Hermione smiled and stroked his hair. "That's good. Harry and the rest are coming by, that is, if you don't need rest. Do you need to sleep or anything?"

"No, I guess the past five days have been sleep enough for me."

Narcissa spoke up, "They're here."

Harry, Ron, Dumbledore and the rest came inside. Harry and Ron clapped Draco in the back as Draco sat up on his bed. Hermione fell in love over again as she watched him with his out-of-bed hair in his blue hospital pajamas talking amiably to Harry and Ron. Dumbledore was also talking to him, and he was laughing and smiling and her heart melted at the sight.

She heard Narcissa's voice somewhere near her ear. "I'm so happy that he's happy. He has never been this happy in a long, long time.

"He always looked up to his father- he believed in everything he said and did, and I'm sure it broke his heart when he finally changed his mind, not because he hated what his father has done to him and his brain, but because his father could not be saved nor turned away from the Dark side. He was too deeply involved, and even if he wanted out, it would not have worked." Narcissa's voice was wobbly.

Hermione faced her, but Narcissa continued. "I don't even know what they did to his dead body. I will never have the chance to bury him properly." It was at that when Draco looked at his teary-eyed mother that he understood. When Harry and the others left a few minutes later, Draco slowly –without help- got out of bed and walked towards his sad mother. He hugged her tightly and she cried freely in his shoulder. Hermione left the room to give them space and time to talk about Lucius.

A few hours later, Narcissa left the room and sat beside Hermione. "The healers are back and they're continuing the physical therapy. Draco is almost fully recovered."

Hermione nodded and gave her mother-in-law a concerned look. "Narcissa, are you alright?"

Narcissa nodded. "Yes. Even if it is quite harsh, Lucius brought this upon himself. It comforts me that even if his son has turned against him and did not respect him anymore, he still loved him. Draco and I talked about it, and he forgave his father. He forgave him for teaching him all the wrong things, for letting him get the Dark mark, for doing things to him even if he was only a child- Draco forgave him, and he loves him. Even after everything Lucius has done to him, he still is his father after all, and nothing can take that away from him."

Hermione nodded and was about to say something when a healer came out of the room.

"Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy, due to the increase in Death Eater attacks, many patients are being rolled in every hour, and we are afraid that it has reached the maximum capacity in the hospital. We have to give up more rooms for more patients who are in need and we do believe that Mr. Malfoy is quite alright to leave. We do however strictly advise that he rest for at least-"

"One month, yes. You told that to us many times already." Narcissa interrupted impatiently.

"Uh…yes, that's right." He replied, nervous around the stern woman, "A healer will visit Mr. Malfoy every day for the next month to check on him and continue his physical therapy. Is that alright?"

"Yes, very much so." Hermione replied, glad that Draco could stay in Grimmauld and rest while she continued her training.

"That's settled, then. We could take him out this afternoon." And with that, the healer left.

"This is good news!" Hermione exclaimed to Narcissa.

"Yes. We could finally go back to Grimmauld." Narcissa replied.

* * *

So in the afternoon, Draco was brought to number Twelve Grimmauld place. He was staying again in their room, and, at the moment, he and Hermione were standing outside the house - Draco said that he didn't want to sleep and stay in bed the whole day.

"It's good to be here, finally. I could go down and finally know what's going on. Plus, I could continue training with Harry and Ron."

Hermione looked at him incredulously.

"You're not going to fight." Hermione said.

"Of course I'm going to fight." Draco said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No you are not, Draco. You just woke up from a coma!" Hermione replied, shocked that he would do such a thing even if the Healers made it quite clear that he had to rest.

"That was days ago!"

"Still! You're still prone to having it again if you don't take any rest!"

"Hermione, I'm going to fight in the battle."

"Draco, you are not. Why are you being so difficult?"

"Me? Difficult? I'm the one who wants to fight for the greater good!"

"You already destroyed Nagini! You are a spy for the Order! Surely that's enough! Besides, they will understand!"

"Perhaps they will, but what about me? Will I be sitting here when I know I could do something more? While I think about who are dying out there?"

"Who are you going to help when you suddenly get hit and fall into a coma again in the middle in the war?"

"Who says I will?" he glared at her.

"The healer said that at least a month's rest is what you need!"

"Granger, that's too long."

"_Malfoy_, that's what you need." Hermione said through clenched teeth.

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

"I want you to be fully recovered. I will _not_ let you fight, even when that means binding you to a chair with chains until the fight is over."

Draco rolled his eyes at her. "Great going, Granger, what a way to make someone feel loved."

And because she was extremely pissed at him, she said something that she would regret.

_"Who says I'm in love with you?"_

Draco stared at her for a long time, hurt etched in his lovely features. Hermione was starting to regret saying that, and was about to apologize when Draco disapparated.

Hermione stared at the spot where he disappeared. Soon, she stood up and disapparated to Hogwarts.

He wasn't there.

She apparated to Hogsmeade.

He wasn't there.

She apparated back to Grimmauld and searched every nook and cranny of the house.

He wasn't there.

Realization slowly dawned on her, and she dropped to the ground, crying.

Ginny found her a few minutes later, still crying and shaking.

"Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Gin, what have I done?"

Ginny sat beside Hermione on the floor, hugging the brunette. "Hermione, tell me what happened. Where's Malfoy?"

With a shaky breath, Hermione told Ginny what had happened and what she said that made Draco leave.

"Why am I so stupid, Ginny? I do! I do love him! I saw how hurt he was! And why did we stay outside in the first place? He could easily apparate and disapparate there! And why on Earth does he have to be so stubborn and want to fight when _clearly_ he isn't fit to do so?"

"Then why don't you just apologize?"

"Because I don't know where he is! I checked Hogwarts, I checked Hogsmeade, I checked all the rooms here!"

"Oh, Hermione." Ginny said as she hugged Hermione closer.

"Gin, I'm scared. What if the Death Eaters found him and brought him to the manor? What if he's dead?"

"Shh, Hermione. We'll tell Dumbledore and they'll search for him."

* * *

The next day, they all searched for him. They searched the whole area and yet he could not be found. Hermione was nearly in hysterics when the day was over. She blamed herself profusely, saying that if she didn't bring him out of the house, he could not have disapparated easily because of the wards. She blamed herself for letting her anger get to her, she blamed for not thinking before she spoke, for hurting him.

On the second day, they continued their search, but nearing evening, Harry suddenly let out a blood-curling scream and dropped to the ground, clutching his scar.

They all gathered around him. "Harry? What's wrong?' Dumbledore asked.

And, in between pants he said the very thing everyone dreaded,

"Voldemort. He's on the move." _Breathe, breathe_. "He's heading towards Hogwarts. I could feel it, I could see it." _Breathe. Pant, pant_. "He's so strong, and he's so mad."

There was a moment of silence.

Then came the panic and the frenzy, just like when Quirrell screamed that there was a troll in the dungeons in their first year.

And, like in their first year, Dumbledore shouted for them to be quiet.

"Do not panic. We shall all stay calm and head to Hogwarts. Call everybody that you know who are on our side. Get as many as you can-former classmates, Aurors, creatures, anyone. We shall all meet up in Hogwarts and save the school before Voldemort destroys it. Professors McGonagall and Snape, call the rest of the faculty and cast as many protection spells around the castle."

And with that, all thoughts and fears were gone and they all disapparated.

The professors called the rest of the faculty and went about the empty castle, casting various protection charms.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry called the rest of Dumbledore's Army, who called their friends, who called their friends' friends.

Moody and the other Aurors summoned the other Aurors.

Hagrid called on the Centaurs and the other creatures of the forest who were willing to help out.

And within the hour, everyone was there in Hogwarts.

And they waited.

Soon, Harry's scar hurt like he was under the Cruciatus curse.

And they knew.

Voldemort was there.

* * *

Ta-da! The war is here and the story is nearing its end... a few more chapters..maybe 2-4 more...What do you think?


	21. Chapter Twenty

A/N: AHHHHH! The time has finally come for the Great Battle of Hogwarts. So sorry for keeping you all waiting. I had a really hard time writing this and I do hope you will all appreciate this.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

* * *

Hermione was anxiously waiting in her place near the Entrance to the Great Hall. All this time, she was wondering where Draco could have been. It was better she realized that he was here fighting than her not knowing where he was or what had happened to him. Her thoughts had vanished when suddenly, everything turned dark. She looked up and her heart fell to her feet.

The signature black smokes that were actually Death Eaters were entering the castle. She held her wand firmly and prayed to whatever deity there was to help them. This was it, everything they had been preparing for.

There was a second of nothing, then, as if it were some sort of scripted play, at that one exact moment, everyone fired their first spell, and the legendary Battle of Hogwarts had started.

All the students and the Order fired at the Death Eaters, all the creatures, all the Professors, even those whom Hermione didn't think would join them attacked the Dark Lord's followers. Hermione was dueling a Death Eater, and at the corner of her eye, she saw Ron a few meters away stunning a man, she saw Lavender Brown running to the Great Hall. She finally cast a spell that hit her target straight in the chest and ran to whoever needed help. There were spells and curses being shouted and she saw Professor Sprout and Neville throwing vicious plants towards their enemies. She saw Fluffy, the three-headed dog with Hagrid sitting on his back as Hagrid shouted for him to claw the Death Eaters. She heard Bellatrix Lestrange's cackle as she saw one of the students drop to the ground. She saw and heard many things, but there was one thing she did not see.

Voldemort.

Where was he?

And Draco.

Hermione shook the thought out of her mind, because she knew that if she thought a bit more of him, she would leave the battle and search for him instead.

And that was not good.

So, she focused again and stunned a death eater she passed. She was on her way to the Entrance to the castle when she was hurled so high up in the air. Landing, she broke her wrist and she felt the searing pain burn her right hand. She immediately stood up and fixed herself and faced her opponent. She was surprised and a bit sad at who she saw. It was a young girl, probably around 12 or 13, and she had her wand poised to curse her again. Hermione sadly sent her a stunning curse and looked at the little girl's motionless body. It saddened her that little girls like her had to join the battle at such a young age, where they don't really know what's going on and their evil parents had to dictate to them what they were supposed to do. She sent her one last look and walked away. She suddenly remembered her wrist and quickly healed it.

She was running when at the corner of her eye, she spotted a blond man wearing Death Eater robes. She quickly panicked, thinking it was Draco turned Death Eater, and immediately followed him. She avoided spells cast at her and stunned people on her way, and finally reached the blond man. He turned around and she quickly discovered that it was not Draco. A part of her was relieved, and another part of her was overcome with fear. She once again faced a death eater; one whom she realized was Rabastan Lestrange. He was known as a very good dueler and she was having a hard time matching his speed and agility. He was throwing spell after spell after spell at such fast speed that Hermione wasn't able to counter his curses and instead was barely avoiding getting hit. Rabastan looked like what he was doing was easy and he was hurling the spells at her lazily. He had a bored expression on his face which made Hermione angrier, but couldn't find the time to curse him. She was getting tired of docking and jumping, and she was feeling dizzy already. She felt that in a few moments, she would give in and he would have her.

Her legs finally gave in and she braced herself for the curse, but it never came. She blearily opened her eyes and saw Rabastan unconscious on the ground with a man standing over him. She rubbed her eyes.

No. It couldn't be.

But the man came to her and carried her to a safe spot where no one was fighting. She felt the familiar feeling of his hands on her and his familiar scent filled her nose.

"D-Draco?" Hermione mumbled, still too tired.

"Shh, love, it's me."

He set her down and pulled out a potion from a bag he was carrying. He handed it to her and she drank it all up in one gulp. Immediately, her surrounding became clear and her head no longer felt fuzzy. She felt strengthened and blinked up at him.

"You came back."

"Of course, silly. We were arguing about me not fighting and you expect me to _not_?" he said jokingly.

She smiled, and was about to say something when a blast was heard and falling debris nearly hit them. Draco helped Hermione get to her feet and they both came back to the battle field.

They were sticking close to each other but Draco lost Hermione somewhere in the chaos. He last saw her dueling a Death Eater, but he was too preoccupied with dueling another one. He was pushed farther from her and the next thing he knew, she was out of his sight. He then focused more on his surroundings and was surprised to see that he was driven far from the chaos and near the lake, where no one was fighting. He looked at the two hooded men he was dueling and a curse he threw caused their hoods to fall.

Draco immediately stopped.

"Crabbe? Goyle?"

Goyle looked at him. "Draco? Is that you? We could hardly see in the dark."

The three unconsciously lowered their wands by an inch. Draco looked over to them, wearing complete Death Eater robes and he had sworn he saw the Dark mark on their arms while they were fighting.

"I'd never thought it would come to this." Draco said sadly.

"But it doesn't have to be like this." Goyle replied.

It was the first time Draco heard Crabbe's voice. "What do you mean 'it doesn't have to be like this'? he switched sides!" Crabbe said to Goyle.

Goyle turned on Crabbe. "He's still our friend, Crabbe. Imagine what we would have been in Hogwarts without him?"

"Look what happened to us! We were always on the background, we always were the 'sidekicks', the stupid ones!"

"Don't you remember the time when he helped us, Crabbe? People feared us when we were with him! If he never took us as his friends, people would laugh at us and we'd look more stupid! So what, we kill him? It's not as if we're not friends anymore." Goyle said, trying to reason out with Crabbe.

"Don't you see it Goyle? The moment he turned on the Dark Lord, he left us!"

"He was brave enough to do what was right! Do you think what we're doing is right?"

He completely lowers his wand. "Crabbe, I've had enough of this shit."

Crabbe raised his wand and pointed it at Goyle. "I've had enough of you. Avada Kedavra!"

And, with a flash of green light, Gregory Goyle lay lifeless on the ground, switching sides at the last moment of his life, but not given the chance to fight for what was right.

Draco stands there, flabbergasted at what Crabbe had done to Goyle.

"Crabbe, what have you done?"

"I took the Dark Mark, Draco," he said, showing his arm, "I'm part of them now, and I'm a _faithful_ servant of the Dark Lord. I have to do this." He raises his wand, but Draco was quicker and sent him a stunning spell. He couldn't kill his old friend, despite what the other had done to Goyle.

And as the battle continued around him, as spells and curses were shouted and thrown at each other, as some people died for what they believed in, while others did it because they had to, Draco stood there, over his two childhood friends, sadly looking at them, one dead, and one stunned. When he could no longer look, he left them, sadness and anger filling his heart.

Draco tore out into the chaos, and he fired every one of his spells with fury. He thought of Goyle and Crabbe and some of his other Slytherin classmates who had their fathers as Death Eaters and were forced to kill and destroy. He thought of how they were taught and how _he_ was taught to hate all things muggle and to rule over the world. He thought of how sad it was that it was only him that turned over to the Light side (and Snape, and Goyle, but it was too late for him).

He helped the Gryffindors, some of them he remembered when they were still students and he used to torment them. Some of them didn't know about him changing sides and they tried to curse him, but the just put up a shield charm and did not hurt them. He saw Ron and Neville dueling a pair of Death Eaters, he saw Luna Lovegood sending dementors away with her Patronus, and he saw Dumbledore and Snape and McGonagall.

"DRACO!" He heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw Bellatrix, his crazy aunt. "Hello, my darling nephew." She cooed, coming closer, Draco gripped his wand tight, so tight that his knuckles were white.

"You don't think you could get away, now, could you? Crucio!" She said, and Draco was too late to put up a shield charm. He fell to the floor, pain filling his head and lungs and whole body. She cackled loudly.

"You deserve it, Draco! No one betrays the Dark Lord and survives!" She cursed him again. White dots were appearing and he felt like he was going to faint.

"NOT MY SON, YOU BITCH!" Someone said, and Draco and Bellatrix looked up to find Narcissa storm towards them. Bellatrix cackled.

"Sister! How good for you to come!"

"Don't you hurt my son EVER AGAIN."

"Or what? You'll kill your own sister?" Bellatrix said.

"Yes."

Bellatrix laughed louder. "You couldn't. You were always a soft one, Narcissa. You were always prim and proper and you didn't like dirt on your robes and doing chores. You would scream and run away when we would find dead rabbits in our garden. You couldn't kill me."

Narcissa's face was cold and hard as stone and Bellatrix's voice wavered at the last part.

"Actually, I could and I will. And you have the honor of standing there and watching me as I prove you wrong."

And, before Bellatrix could react further, Narcissa killed her deranged sister.

Draco watched this with his mouth agape. He got up unsteadily and walked over to his shaking mother. She was rooted to the spot, staring in horror at the woman lying dead in front of her.

"I just killed somebody. My sister first, no less." She said, still shocked at what she has done.

Before Draco could reply, a loud crash was heard all around the school. Suddenly, everybody stopped dueling and running and shouting. It was as if the whole world stood frozen for a whole minute. Then, a blinding light surrounded everyone and the scream of Lord Voldemort was heard. All the Death Eaters, including Draco, clutched their arms, because at that moment, they experienced the worst pain they had ever felt in their entire life. It was worse than Crucio, it was as if their forearms were getting burned and being stabbed and being crucioed all at the same time. It hurt Draco so much it was all he could do not to cry and fall to his knees.

And with that, they all knew.

Voldemort has fallen.

Harry Potter has vanquished the Dark Lord, and the prophesy was fulfilled.

There was a second of complete silence.

Then everybody was cheering and shouting and clapping ad crying.

The Great Battle of Hogwarts had ended, and the Light had won.

* * *

Aaaargh! I don't really know how to make a good battle scene, okay? I don't know if it's that nice or whatever..I used the same line Molly told Bellatrix, except I used Son instead of Daughter..And Voldemort appears sometime in the end and he faces Harry and some magic thing happens.. I don't really know the details because I was busy watching Draco and Hermione. What do you think of Crabbe and Goyle's part? What do you think of the whole chapter? Please review! Sorry also if there are misspelled words or typos..I kinda had to do this in a hurry because my mom wants me to sleep already but I want to be able to post this already..

I believe that we are nearing the end..One or two more chapters to go..and maybe I'll write an epilogue..


	22. Chapter Twenty One

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews! I cannot believe that this is the last chapter...well, aside from the epilogue, which i have decided to write, but yeah, this is basically it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. :D

* * *

The next two days had been a blur for Hermione. She remembered winning the battle, then heading to the Great Hall, where all the dead students and Aurors were laid and all the injured ones were healed. She remembered Dumbledore making a speech about thanking them and telling them to unite in recovering from the war and rebuilding the school. He also made a speech about the ones who died, that they will always be remembered in their hearts. She remembered seeing Draco from afar and being told that he and his mother had to leave and make arrangements with the Ministry about the manor and about clearing Draco and Narcissa of any charges. She was unable to talk to him because she was busy aiding other injured students. She was busy talking and comforting those who lost their family members and friends during the war, and she was busy cleaning up the spoils of war. They were so busy for the past two days with many things that they hardly knew what the date was or whether it was early morning or late in the evening.

Dumbledore finally approached Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny on the second night saying, "I suggest the four of you head back to Grimmauld place and have the rest you need. You four have been working very hard and I think the rest of the Aurors and professors could handle this one."

The four of them nodded and apparated back to Grimmauld. All four of them haven't been talking much since the war, and Hermione figured that she would talk to Harry now.

"Harry, how are you feeling?"

Harry looked up at her. "I'm alright, I guess. I think I just need a little rest. I'm still getting used to the fact that I have actually defeated Voldemort. He has been there for my whole life and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he'll be gone. Don't get me wrong, I sure do like that, it's just…I don't really know where to go on from here."

Ron nodded. "I know. I have the same feeling too. I mean, all these years, we have been training and fighting off Voldemort and that's basically what we did aside from school. We're done with school, and we need to find jobs and all that."

"We didn't really have time to think of our future. Before, I thought like, 'Oh, getting work and all is far away from now.' But now, I can't believe it's here. It feels…weird." Hermione put in.

"Do you think they'll open Hogwarts for next year?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know. Maybe not. There are so many things in Hogwarts that needs to be fixed. And everybody needs time to heal." Hermione replied.

Harry nodded. "We could talk to Dumbledore tomorrow. I think sleep is what we need."

Everybody else nodded and headed upstairs to their respective bedrooms.

"Good night." Harry said, yawning.

The three replied their 'good night's' and closed the doors to their bedrooms.

Hermione felt lonely as she made her way to the bathroom to wash herself up. Now that her worries about Harry and Ron and Ginny were gone, she wondered what Draco was doing and where they stood at the moment. She sighed as water rushed down at her from the shower.

She was thinking about what Harry and Ron were saying awhile ago. What _was_ she going to do after all this? She would probably work in the Ministry, and she would spend more time with Draco, and maybe in a few years, they could build a family. She sighed at the thought.

Maybe she could talk about this with Draco when he comes back.

Maybe she should think about these things tomorrow.

Because now, that bed looked like heaven.

* * *

Hermione woke up late the next morning, and proceeded downstairs to get breakfast after talking another long shower. Ginny was there, eating toast and drinking pumpkin juice.

"Morning." Ginny greeted.

"Good morning." Hermione replied, "I swear, I will never take taking a bath for granted ever again."

Ginny laughed. "Same here. Here, have some toast." She said, offering Hermione some.

"So have you heard about the gala coming up in two days?"

Hermione looked surprised and shook her head. "So soon?"

Ginny shrugged, "I guess they couldn't wait to celebrate. Voldemort _is_ dead, after all."

"Yes, but aren't they supposed to be fixing everything up first?"

"Everything is nearly done. Besides, it's a charity gala thing. It's in honor of all the heroes who fought during the Great Battle."

"Oh fine, I suppose I should go, and I hope Draco will be here by that time." She wondered, playing with the ring he had given her the night he left for Voldemort. Ever since, she had not taken it off, and she usually unconsciously played with it when she was thinking of him.

Ginny inclined her head. "Why? Where is he?"

"He's with his mother; they're arranging things with the Ministry about the Manor. The ministry wants to sweep the whole place of Dark Artifacts. Personally, Draco said that they could burn the whole house down and just make a new one. I don't think Narcissa wants to burn down her antique furniture and expensive chandeliers and stuff, so they're moving first to their other house, in Kent."

Ginny gave a low whistle. "Seriously, how many manors do they have?"

Hermione laughed. "I have no idea."

"But anyways, I'm sure Narcissa wouldn't want to miss another chance to dress up for a gala. I'm sure they'll be there." Ginny said.

"I guess you're right. I can't believe the Ministry has enough people to actually prepare a gala in just two days!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Well, you know the Ministry, so many departments."

Hermione nodded. "I really cannot believe it's over." She said, after a moment of silence.

"Neither do I, trust me."

"I can't believe Parvati Patil died."

"Yeah, and Dean Thomas. I wonder how Seamus is."

"I saw him, he had a broken arm and he was just...gazing down at his best friend. It's sad."

"I know. But did you hear? Blaise Zabini? He changed sides at the last minute and just started cursing the Death Eaters. But he died."

Hermione's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh?"

Hermione shrugged. "You never know with those Slytherins. You never know what's going on in their minds."

"It's sad, really, I kinda liked Zabini."

Hermione's eyebrows rose and an amused smile graced her lips.

"Ginny, he's not dead."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Really? How did you know?"

"Yeah. He was just unconscious, I attended to him. You have hope." She said as she winked at her blushing friend.

* * *

The day of the gala came, and Hermione, together with Harry, Ron, and Ginny walked into the Ministry. All eyes turned to them, and suddenly, Hermione felt like her black dress was too short, her hair was messed up, and she felt very, very self-conscious. Suddenly, everyone applauded and cheered for them, the 'Heroes' of the great war.

There was a program and there were eating and drinking, and there was a speech made by the Minister of Magic, and glasses were raised to everyone, and everyone was happy and they celebrated, and there were dancing, and suddenly, Hermione felt the need to breathe, so she excused herself while the three were dancing, (Ginny was dancing with Blaise Zabini) and headed to a balcony, holding her glass of wine and shivering from the cold.

She was there for a couple of minutes when she heard the balcony doors open and suddenly, she felt warm and she realized that someone put their robes on her shoulder. She did not need to look to see who it is, because his scent surrounded her as she tightened the robes around her shoulders.

There was a long silence, and neither one of them did not know what to do nor say. She finally looked up at him, looked up at this deep-set grey colored eyes.

"You're beautiful, you know that, right?" He finally said.

She looked down and blushed, smiling. "Hi."

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"Yes. You?"

She nodded.

"I missed you." He said.

"I missed you more." She replied in a wobbly voice, tears threatening to fall.

He took a step toward her and pulled her into a tight embrace. Hermione hugged him back tightly, fearing that he might go away again.

"I never had the chance to apologize."

"You don't need to. I understand what you were saying, but really, I didn't fall back into a coma, right?"

"But you could've."

"But I didn't."

"But you could've."

"But I didn't."

"But-" He shushed her with his finger.

"That doesn't matter anymore, Hermione. It's the past, and I'm here, aren't I?"

Hermione chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose."

He peered closer into her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I was just wondering why you didn't come to us when we entered."

"I just came in, actually. I came in when you were heading out."

"Oh." She said softly, embarrassed that she even thought of that.

Draco laughed at her. She glared playfully. "What?"

He continued laughing. "You're so cute."

Hermione smiled at him and slapped his arm playfully. "Don't laugh at me."

"Sorry, love." He said, and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

They could hear the music from the balcony, and it was a slow song that was playing, so suddenly, Draco lifted Hermione's arm and twirled her around. She came back into his arms and held her hands firmly at the back of his neck as his hands found her lower back. She rested her head in his shoulder and he drew lazy circles on her back as they slowly swayed along the music.

Hermione smiled. Everything was finally okay between them. Tomorrow, they would talk about where they would live and what her job would be and what his job would be and they would get closer to each other and, maybe in a few years, she'll talk about having a baby, but right now, staying in his arms was perfectly good enough.

Oh, and before she forgot:

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you too."

He smiled down at her and kissed her.

* * *

AWWWW! how did you find that last part?

Well, I guess that's it for Draco and Hermione's story. I'm thinking of an epilogue, and I already have a new story in mind, so yeah, i just want to thank all of you who have read this and reviewed and favored it.. thanks, really.


	23. Epilogue

Sorry for the late update! But here it is, hope you all enjoy!

I do not own HP and its characters.

* * *

Draco was immediately awoken with the sound of Hermione's muggle alarm clock, which sat on the windowsill, far away from the bed. He groggily sat up and threw the covers off him, stumbling sleepily towards the blasted muggle contraption. Hermione insisted that it should be situated somewhere away from the bed so that they would be forced to wake up and stand up to shut the bloody thing off. Worse, she charmed it so that it wouldn't be shut off with a wand. It seemed that she forgot to turn the stupid thing off the previous night, as it was a weekend today so they didn't need to wake up at 6:00 in the morning. After shutting the damned thing off, he crawled back to bed and snuggled next to the beautiful witch beside him. Careful not to wake her up, he slowly wrapped his arms around her and watched her as she slept. She woke up anyway a few minutes later, and smiled sleepily at him as she rubbed the sleep off her eyes. "Good morning," She said, seeing him staring at her with such intensity that she had to cover her face, "what time is it?"

Draco leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips before replying. "It is 6:00 in the morning; you seemed to have forgotten to shut the bugger last night. I wanted to sleep some more, but was forced to stand up to turn it off."

Hermione laughed at the cute pout that formed in his mouth. "Go back to sleep, then."

"I can't. I'm fully awake now, and I'm going to have difficulty in falling asleep again. I cannot believe you didn't wake up to that _blaring_ sound! It's loud enough to wake the whole of Europe."

Hermione laughed and playfully smacked his bare chest. "Don't overreact." She chided. "It helps you get to work, admit it. If not for the _bugger_, you'd wake up late and come to work late."

Draco rolled his eyes and gave her another kiss. "Let's eat breakfast. I'm hungry."

Hermione nodded in agreement and sat up, pulling the satin sheets away from her body and heading to the bathroom to wash up. Draco sat up too, leaning his upper body against the headboard as he waited for his turn in the bathroom. Something felt…_special_ today and it bothered him that he didn't know why. He racked his brain trying to remember what it was that made this day different from every other day.

After a few minutes of deep thinking, he suddenly lit up, remembering why, just the same time as Hermione got out of the bathroom, freshly showered and neatly dressed. Draco jumped from the bed and hurried to her.

"Change your clothes to going out clothes, we're eating breakfast outside." With a questioning expression, Hermione was about to reply when he shut her up with a finger to her lips. "I'll explain later."

With that, he entered the bathroom and took a quick shower and got dressed.

They were out of the house by 7:00, and he led her to the café a few blocks away, where they frequently visited. They took their seats and ordered their meals, and once the food was served, Hermione asked him, "What did you want to tell me?"

Draco swallowed his toast and replied, "On this very day, seven years ago, Voldemort summoned me and told me to do a very important task for him, a task that if performed well, would earn victory to the Dark side." He watched Hermione, and he continued, "He told me to marry you." He smiled at her. "Do you remember that? I told you, Dumbledore, Harry, and Ron right afterwards, in Dumbledore's office."

"Oh! Yes, I remember that night." Hermione replied.

Draco smiled and nodded. "It might not be as important as, say, our anniversary, but at that moment, my life- _our _lives changed forever. I felt that that was the biggest thing that ever happened to my life, that never in my entire life have I thought of marrying you, Hermione. It was a strange feeling."

Hermione smiled at him and entwined their hands on top of the table. "Its funny- I just realized now that we have Voldemort to thank for- for giving us a chance, for making us _us_."

Draco gripped her hand. "That's probably that only thing he did right." He laughed.

After eating their breakfast and paying the bill, they walked outside, still hand in hand, talking and reminiscing the last seven years they had been together. It wasn't smooth, and it wasn't perfect. Some days, Hermione felt like they were back to their old selves: born to hate each other, to loathe the very ground they walk on, spewing insults at each other that hurt to the core, but eventually, their fights would be resolved and they would be back to being happy. They had many imperfections, many disagreements, but that's what made them who they were today, and neither one could ask for anything more. They were happy, and they balanced each other well. They always kept one another on each other's toes, making life much more exciting and fuller. He was very protective of her, but not to the point where it irritated her, and she was concerned for him, but not to the exent where he would feel too suffocated.

As they were walking, they caught up with a group of little kids playing and talking. Hermione watched them with a small smile on her face and a loving expression. From the corner of her eye, she saw Draco looking at her with an amused expression, with his eyebrows raised and his infamous smirk in place.

"You know," he started, as he leaned to whisper in her ear, "I suddenly have the urge to go back home and to our bed. Right now."

A smirk, rivaling that of her husband's appeared on Hermione's lips as she shivered from his minty breath on her ear. "So do I, love."

* * *

And...That's it, folks! Basically, they make a child that day, and, well, the rest goes on. Really hope that you guys had fun reading this story, and I'm quite surprised with myself that I finally was able to write and complete a chaptered fic. Hope you tell me what you think of this short epilogue, and read my other fics, too! :D I won't be making a sequel to this, but I'll be making a post-Hogwarts fic.

Thanks a lot for sticking with me, sorry for the late upload for the epilogue, and sorry for the typos in the previous chapters. Is currently working on my next story, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload next. Stay tuned for more!

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Until next time,

LABM


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